Ruby C. Williams was born and raised in Beallsville, Florida, and with the help of her family, founded a small farming community in Hillsborough County Florida. In the mid 1950s, Ruby left the farm and over the years worked as an undertaker, furniture upholster, minister and a children's counselor. It was not until about 1983 that she returned home to the farm. Ruby supports her family with the money brought in from her farm and from running a small roadside produce stand. Ruby began making signs to advertise her produce and after encouragement from friend and customer, Rodney Hardee, she began painting brightly colored and festive works of art. Soon many of her customers were interested in buying her art and not just her produce. Eventually, Ruby added a small tin roofed gallery to the produce stand, in which she would exhibit her artwork.
Williams often sets her figures (animal and human) against a background of bright blocks and bands of color. "I use an array of basic colors that I have. I don't ever put two colors together and try to break up two primary colors with another." There are often messages on the paintings that are religious or descriptive. She spends her summers in New Jersey doing missionary work and she contributes much of her earnings to help children. She says that her ideas come from, "the spirit of the lord. He reveals to me what to do or when to do it."
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