Ragland wins ribbon on painting of Old Rainbow

Jack Ragland poses with his recreation of a painting he did 44 years ago in Rainbow. Village News/Courtesy photo

RAINBOW – Jack Ragland's neighbor, Ynez Heermans, recently asked him about a painting of their property that he had done, painted on the spot with his easel standing in the field 44 years ago. He said, "I was surprised to learn that it was a favorite of her husband, Charlie, who had seen me working on it as he was driving in and out."

The painting featured their barn and house, before they sold off the field (front end of their property) which had the windmill and the bird sanctuary pond, which was later filled in, and the windmill was destroyed.

Their house later burned to the ground from a kitchen fire. Ragland no longer had the painting, but he obtained a photo of it and created another one including an egret, horses and the pond.

Ragland took the painting to share at the Art League and won a ribbon for it. "It was a nostalgic memory revisiting old Rainbow," he said.

Submitted by Natasha Ragland.