Tressa Bush writer
CourierFeature
Beauty Shines Through Lankford’s Love of Art
We’ve all been painters. Do you remember the paint by numbers sets we got as kids? I sure do. They were so much fun, especially for kids like me who could not paint without them.
Two of my masterpieces are vivid in my memory. One was of butterflies on black velvet (boy, I thought it was pretty). My mother’s mother, Ella B. White Sullins, (we called her Ma Sullins) did, too. She proudly displayed the painting on her bathroom wall for many years. The other painting was a project at Vacation Bible School at Maggart Methodist Church when I was ten or twelve years old. It was what’s called reverse painting.
The paint went onto the glass, not a canvas or piece of paper. I put foil behind it to make it sparkle. I liked that one so much, I kept it myself. I’m sure it’s still around the house somewhere in a box tucked away with other memories.
Riddleton resident Betty Lankford had a few of those paint by number sets, too. But she, unlike me, enjoyed the art form so much she kept working and working and learned how to paint without them and believe me, she is good, very good!!
HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT BETTY
Artists like Betty don’t go around with a big billboard on their face saying, hey, did you know I paint and I’m pretty good at it? I’ve known Betty for many years, but did not know about her extraordinary talent until a few months ago. You see, Betty’s grandson, Daniel Gibbs, is engaged to my oldest niece, Keri Oldham. They’ve been dating for a little over five years. And Betty’s granddaughter, Erica Gibbs, played basketball with my other niece, Kristen Oldham, for three years.
One day I was visiting Keri and she told me she had a painting for me to see. I was quite curious, as paintings aren’t exactly topics of conversation at her house. She ran into the living room and picked up this gorgeous 18x24 oil painting of an English cottage. She told me that Betty had taken it down off the wall at her house. She asked Daniel to find out what his grandmother planned to do with it. Knowing Keri adored the painting, Betty offered it to Keri and she graciously accepted it. As for Betty, she did not think twice about
truly appreciated it. That’s what Betty does.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Betty was the third of three children born to Dortch and Belle Hackett. They lived in the home where Betty and her husband, Don (whom she married in December 1959), live now, on Peyton’s Creek. There were five years between Betty and her older twin sisters. With that age gap, Betty wasn’t always interested in the same playtime activities, so she passed the time on her own. “I had more crayons than anyone I knew. I would sit around for hours coloring in books and on paper,” Betty recalled. Her parents saw this special talent in their youngest daughter. When she began the 7th grade, her parents encouraged her to transfer from Riddleton Elementary to Carthage Elementary where there was a full-time art teacher, Ms. Lunette Gore. “I was thrilled to have an art teacher. It wasn’t long until I was bringing home colorful pictures in pastels (that’s an art form using colored chalks),” said Betty. “After about six months, I graduated to oils and have been painting mostly oils ever since.”
Betty says she loves oils more than pastels or watercolors because the colors are much more vibrant and they last longer.
I asked Betty about how she sees things, because to me, anybody who draws and paints must see things differently than the average person and Betty agreed. “Yes, I see things in all the colors that they are. I can drive down the road and see the many shades of the green leaves on the trees and all the shades of a blue sky. Nothing is just one color to me and I can express that on canvas,” Betty commented. Okay, there’s my answer!
EDUCATION AND FAMILY
Betty graduated from Smith County High School and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Tennessee Tech in elementary education. “I planned to teach, but I didn’t realize my class room would be our home. We had four beautiful girls (Belinda, born in 1959, Cynthia, born in 1961, Donna, born in 1962 and Debbie, born in 1964) very close together and we realized that it would be best for me to stay at home and be a teacher for them,” she explained. “I have four wonderful sons-in-law, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. As the years have passed, I’ve realized what a wonderful accomplishment it is to raise really nice children, good citizens,” Betty commented.
When Betty and Don married and moved into her childhood home (circa 1885) she knew her painting skills would come in handy. The house had big rooms with 12 foot ceilings - a lot of wall space to cover! Over the years, she’s filled every room with several of her paintings and they accent the home perfectly. Betty also paints on china plates. Those are displayed in the dining room, where else!
Betty gets her ideas from other mediums including pictures from such places as magazines and seed packets, among other things. She does most of her work at the kitchen table, a relaxing atmosphere for her. Betty prefers painting landscapes, flowers and fruits. And most of her work stays in the family. “I have painted special orders for people, especially “home places”, but they are harder to paint because one is always afraid it will not please them. This depresses one’s “creative juices” from flowing,” she said with a slight laugh.
“I’ve never been good at promoting myself, so I never made much money at it, but I love to give them to family members.”
BETTY DID BECOME A TEACHER
After my interview with Betty at her home, I ran into a friend of mind, Treva Blair Massey. I showed her my pictures and told her about the upcoming feature story. She looked at them and said,” Well, that’s Ms. B.! My sister and I took painting lessons from her when we were in grade school. I really enjoyed my time with her and I learned so much.”
Betty may never have been a school teacher in a school building, but she did use that degree to teach painting to a few boys and girls like Treva. While Bettty enjoyed that experience, she says the most important teaching was to her four sweet daughters. Of course, they got a few painting lessons over the years, as have some of the grandchildren and some of them are very good painters as well. Betty is proud of that.
I asked Betty about teaching Treva and other young children and she quickly quoted Pablo Picasso who said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Betty interprets this quote to mean - let children be children, let them be creative, draw and paint whatever they like. And to wait until they’re older before entering them into professional lessons. Betty sincerely
believes that quote and that’s her advice to parents who have artistic children.
It’s obvious to me, and I think you’ll agree, that philosophy worked well for Betty Lankford. The proof is in her paintings!
V isions of S mith County
Lankford’s husband Don has a talent as well in building furniture
