Betty Bea Washburn is a graduate of the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Education, and Western Michigan University with a Masters degree in Education. She is a retired public school art teacher, a veteran of thirty-three years. Betty Bea began painting professionally in 1979 and has paintings in both the public and private domains. Most notably her work comprises the entire collection of the Southwestern Michigan Rehabilitation Center in Battle Creek, Michigan - seventy paintings and a mural. Thirty paintings are part of the permanent collection of Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall, Michigan. Betty Bea enjoys sharing her watercolor experience with adult students while continuing to paint for gallery collections. Betty Bea states, “My goal is to infuse the paintings with energy that remains within the work long after the brush has been lifted from the paper.”