Betty Williamson's bold, bright paintings of totemic wild animals are all about warmth, abundance, and protection. Clearly these themes are paramount to the 61-year-old artist who’s spent nearly half of her life living on the street.

Gracious, articulate, and high animated, Betty likes to talk about the eagles and redwing hawks that were her companions when she spent five years living in a van in a wrecking yard beside the Duwamish River in South Seattle. She talks expansively about the friends she’s made at church, at a day shelter for homeless women, and in the Seattle art world. There's a story about the eye-catching beaded necklace she wears.

But Betty skips over the details of what it was like to live for long periods without heat, cooking facilities, or running water. She doesn't talk about her grown children with whom she’s no longer in touch.

Betty can rewrite the past a bit now that she has a home at The Gatewood, a Plymouth Housing building just steps from the Pike Place Market.

She pays the subsidized rent on her apartment from her monthly Social Security check, using the rest of her money for food, personal items, a telephone, and art supplies. An experienced bargain hunter and do-it-yourselfer, Betty’s filled her room with medicinal plants, furniture, and, of course, supplies for her painting, jewelry making, and other crafts. Knitting is her latest interest.

Before Betty moved into The Gatewood in October, 2007, she was living in temporary housing provided by a Seattle-area program that requires clients to move out within two years. Betty's time was nearly up when she got word that Plymouth Housing had an opening at The Gatewood.

Moving into The Gatewood has brought about significant changes in Betty's life, and she's happy to talk about those. Having a secure room of her own is just the beginning.

"I believe that people come here to get well," Betty says emphatically. She tells how her onsite case manager, a woman she refers to as "my little bear cub," saw to it that Betty enrolled in the Meals on Wheels program.

"Thanks to her, now I eat three meals a day instead of one," Betty says. "They bring lunch and dinner and I make my own breakfast."

The meals program is more than just a convenience for Betty. It may be a lifesaver. Betty suffers from diabetes and needs to take daily medication. Doctors have told her that if her condition gets worse, she'll require insulin injections.

Through the meals program, Betty is now able to get special menus designed to keep diabetes under control. And at The Gatewood she gets onsite medical checkups from a nurse twice a week. The nurse helped Betty to organize her medications in a special box that allows her to keep track of what she takes each day so apartment staff don't need to remind her about medications as often.

With her blood sugar levels improving, Betty is optimistic. "I believe that I can overcome this,” she says.

And Betty is once again focusing on art, applying for a grant that will enable her to create and show her vivid paintings.