Resident Showing Watercolors, Acrylics, Photography and More at April Show
RWC Resident Barbara Touchette (pronounced Touchet) has had a full and adventurous life, and she embraces her art with the same gusto.
“I started taking art courses and everybody said, ‘Oh, watercolors are really difficult. You may want to start with something else.’ I said, “If it’s really hard, I’d like to start with that.”
Residents and the local community can view Touchette’s 42 works of art on display at RWC through the end of April.
“My larger artwork on display is some of my finest. I added some smaller pieces to enhance the color, she said. “It’s all in how you arrange it and set it up.”
Touchette works with watercolors, acrylics, oil, photography and just about any other kind of media you can think of. She works with marbles and glass, wood, does portraits and even created the number 75 for a special birthday out of copper in a heavy frame.
“I took 18 different classes as I was exploring different art forms,” she said. “I took five very expensive courses, and then some others from very good artists at the Rappahannock Art League. Now at RWC, I have additional opportunities to take classes and learn unusual things I have not done before.”
Touchette is from Norfolk and met her husband, Richard Graffy, at a wedding on the Naval base. Soon after meeting, he asked, ‘Would you like to go to Florida in a few weeks?’ I asked my friend, the bride, about him, and she said, ‘He’s a really nice guy.’ So, I went with him. His friends were getting a brand new 44-foot sailboat, and I helped them bring the boat to Virginia.”
They were married in 1985 and built a house on 2.5 acres – Farnsworth East, by the Corrotoman River.
“It took us seven years, Touchette said. “My husband was an aeronautical engineer in the Navy, so we did it all ourselves. He taught me electrical wiring and everything about building a house. I like simplicity,” she said. “But also, complexity. It’s like a tug going both ways.”
They enjoyed many happy years on the river sailing and competing in races until his health declined and they moved to Hills Quarter in Irvington. They lived there until he died in 2018 as a retired U.S. Navy Captain at 97 years old. Touchette moved to RWC about three years ago.
“I wonder sometimes if people are so scared that they don’t take advantage of some really fun things,” she said. “As I’m growing older, I’m starting to second guess what I need to do and how things are going to turn out, but I’m glad I took the chances I did at the time.”
Residents and community members are invited to view the adventurous art exhibition 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily throughout April in Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury’s Gallery Hall.