“Catherine Holman, left, admires the painting First Street Langley by artist Betty Rayle. Rayle donated the painting to the South Whidbey Youth Center, which is selling prints in a fund-raiser for its After School Drop-Inn program.Joan Soltys/staff photo Hang a piece of Langley on your wall and help support the South Whidbey Youth Center. A watercolor painting called First Street Langley, has been donated to the center by noted Whidbey artist Betty Rayle to be used as an SWYC fund-raising project. The center is selling the art prints to raise money for its After School Drop-Inn program, which serves about 50 youth a day, Monday through Friday from 2-5 p.m. during the school year and three days a week during the summer. It provides a place for youth recreation, snacks, computer lab work and socializing with other youth under adult staff and volunteer supervision. Special programs during the school year feature workshops at which guests provide skill building opportunities and field trips on half days of school and during spring break. It is one of our most successful programs, and it continues to need support, said Catherine Holman, Youth Center development committee chair and board vice president.We are very grateful for Betty’s donation, Holman said. Her work sells for anywhere from $500 to $1,500. This print will be a true collector’s item.As for Rayle, she said she was delighted to be asked to paint something specifically for the youth center. We had fun deciding what the subject should be, she said. I’d do different scenes, even people, until we came up with something everyone liked. Rayle has donated art for good causes several times in previous years. Her painting of salmon was chosen for the Maxwelton Salmon-Adventure fund-raiser, and the original now hangs in the Outdoor Classroom building. She will also have a piece in the juried art gallery at this weekend’s Coupeville Arts Festival. She was the winner of last year’s show. The prints of First Street Langley cost $25 and can be purchased at Langley businesses IslandDesign, Island Travel, Whidbey Island Antiques and Gaskill/Olson Gallery; at The Framery in Clinton; in Freeland at Building Source, at the Greenbank Farm Gift Shop. They also may be ordered directly from the SWYC by calling 221-4142. “
First Street in Langley captured in art
"A watercolor painting called First Street Langley, has been donated to the center by noted Whidbey artist Betty Rayle to be used as an SWYC fund-raising project. The center is selling the art prints to raise money for its After School Drop-Inn program, which serves about 50 youth a day, Monday through Friday from 2-5 p.m. during the school year and three days a week during the summer. "
