About the Artist

Nettie Bean

Nettie Bean was not the typical artsy child who drew pictures on her lunch sack every day at school.  She did not even know she had “the gift” until she took Art 101 in college. But that class opened the door to the world of art and she ran through it. Her desire to paint was so strong that she worked for a while as a sort of itinerant artist, going door to door offering to paint “house portraits.”

Today, Nettie paints large canvases of landscapes, birds and animals in oil. The Lodge at Guntersville State Park displays many of her eagle paintings, the largest being life sized. She still  loves to do commissioned work. “I like the challenge of painting what is in someone else’s head.” Whether it is a childhood memory, a vacation scene, or a beloved pet, Nettie can add elements to a photograph that should have been there, but were not.  As one grateful patron put it, “It’s like she read my heart.”

Annette Hamilton Bean did not come from a place of privilege, and there was no original art in her childhood home. Today, her home and her gallery are filled with her own stunning paintings of birds, flowers, lakes and wildlife. Many of her works are large-scale paintings. But she believes strongly that “everyone should be able to own at least one piece of original art.” So she offers a selection of miniature paintings priced for anyone to afford.

Nettie and her husband, Wally Bromberg, own the Gallery of Eden near their home in Pell City, Alabama. Many of her paintings, along with a large selection of her functional and decorative pottery, are available there. The gallery also serves as Wally’s photography studio and the classroom for Nettie’s weekly painting classes.

Teaching, another of her gifts, involves more than imparting technical skills. “What most people do not use to the fullest is their ability to see. When someone begins to really see, the visual world becomes a new place and a source of enjoyment and wonder. . . . They see the light play on a dancing leaf, the color reflected on a ripple of water, the layers of fog across a hay field, the contrast of a broken tree against soft clouds.”

She believes that her creative skills, her artistic vision, and her inspiration are gifts from the Creator God. The verse that encourages her to create is: “Neglect not the gift that is in thee…” (1 Timothy 4:14).