Auburn’s City Hall Gallery will feature the paintings of Billie Andrew and Sharon Carr throughout the month.

At first glance, their artworks bear little resemblance beyond the vibrant colors both use. While the artists’ use of color strikes a chord of commonality in their paintings, their presentation of their subjects differs.

“The artwork by these two artists complements each other well,” said Maija McKnight, Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation visual/public art coordinator. “Many of Sharon’s paintings are realistic representations of the natural world with some of the surrounding details simplified and abstracted. Billie’s paintings take that abstraction many steps further with only a trace of recognizable forms.”

Andrew, a Renton resident, is a retired graphic artist who has been painting for most of her 75 years.

“Both my parents were artistic, although they didn’t make a living at it, so it just came natural to me,” Andrew said.

According to Andrew, she first put crayon to paper as a child.

“It was mostly figurative, I liked drawing people,” she said. “What I do now is very abstract.

Although her paintings may be abstract, Andrew said. “There is usually a theme to it.

“Often there is something mysterious or spiritual about it,” Andrew said. “I’ve done a lot of angels and some spacey things.”

Andrew said that although she is retired, she still does graphic arts on the side.

“I’ve always needed to do something with my hands, just create something with my hands,” she said. “It’s either painting or graphics, I used to sew and cook a lot. I suppose being born creative fed that.”

For Carr, a native Tacoman, the artistic urge came later in life.

“I started right before I turned 50,” she said. “I had a private counseling practice but when I started painting I kind of went wild with it.”

Before long Carr said she ditched the counseling gig, choosing to make money doing art.

“Luckily, my spouse was very supportive,” she said.

Although Carr said she enjoyed art as a young girl, she didn’t think she was good enough at it to continue drawing and painting past elementary school.

“I got A’s in everything in school – except art in third grade,” Carr said. “So I quit because I wasn’t good at it. When I approached 50 though, I stopped giving a damn what the teacher thought.”

Carr said she draws her inspiration from nature, although she also said there was a spiritual element to her work.

“It’s mostly the natural world that inspires me,” she said. “But the spiritual imperative in my life is to pay attention to beauty. I think painting helps me doing that.”

For Andrew, it’s all about the warm feeling she gets both painting and displaying her work.

“It makes me feel good,” Andrew said. “And part of what keeps me painting is I enjoy entering local shows. That’s kind of fun.”

Carr and Andrew’s artwork will be on display at the Auburn City Hall, 25 W. Main St., from April 1-30. The gallery is free to the public and open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.