Brushing up on her art  In just a few short weeks Micah Ringham, a talented young violinist from Langley, will begin her studies at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. But, as always, prestige comes with a price, and for the past several months Micah, along with her family and a host of other supporters, has been working to raise the $32,000 she will need to cover her tuition and living expenses at Interlochen this academic year. Through a variety of fundraising efforts, including private donations, art program grants and a recent benefit concert in Langley, which featured Micah and raised a cool $3,000, her family has managed to collect $27,000. Still $5,000 shy of her dream, and with the start of the school year just weeks away, Micah is getting a helping hand from another local artist - one who works in a slightly different medium. Lalita Hamill's 9"x12" oil painting, simply titled Micah, is now up for bids in a silent auction being coordinated by the newly developed Windsong Children's Development Foundation. In Hamill's painting of 16-year-old Micah playing her violin, light seems to emanate from within the young musician, casting a warm glow all around her, illuminating surrounding darkness. The idea for the piece, valued at an estimated $450, came to the artist almost as in a dream. "This oil painting of Micah is definitely an inspired piece," said Hamill, who lives in Walnut Grove's Windsong, the same "intentional housing community" as the Ringhams. "I couldn't sleep one night and saw the image of Micah playing her violin so clearly, I knew exactly what I was going to do and how I was going to do it.  The next morning I woke up and completed the painting in less than six hours." Micah, meanwhile, was on a cross-Canada tour with the National Youth Orchestra, from which she returned Aug. 18.  With concerts in "pretty much every major city across the country" the tour took the teenager to parts of Canada she'd never before seen. "It was so cool," said Micah of her national travels. She was unaware there was yet another cool surprise waiting for her at home. "I had no idea; it was a total surprise," she said. "When mom picked me up at the airport she said there was something pretty cool waiting at home." That was when Micah first glimpsed the portrait of herself...