At Twenty One

Above are two early landscapes of mine painted in watercolor. Since I had mainly been an oil painter up until recently, these were painted with my oil painter's stiff  hog bristle brushes, some flats and some brights. This is apparent in the style exhibited here. Their colors are a little stronger in reality than how they appear here, and the second piece has not been cropped in the above photo to eliminate its matt.  I had been painting in a style like this for some time, when I moved to North Carolina. Not working at a job at the time, and having just graduated from State University of New York, with a BS Degree, I was free to attend a class at Opportunity House, an art and craft center in Hendersonville NC. The individuals in the class, when they saw the style of  my paintings, asked if I would teach a class, so they could get a feeling of how I was working to accomplish this. Of course I did, and this lasted until I moved away 4 months later. In that time I was able to establish good friendships among the class members. At the time, we were living in a cottage on the property of  The Woodfield Estate, in Flatrock NC, a beautiful property where  Florida individuals would reside in the summers to escape the Florida heat. In the months I was there, February thru May, we saw some beautiful light  lacey snowfalls. I had no need of any warmer coat in Winter than a raincoat with a zipout lining. As the weather warmed, and the pink dogwood trees bloomed, I had endless time to wander the property on which the Inn sat,  and to socialize with the birds and a few friendly pups on the property, then return to the cottage and paint to my hearts content. Nature thus was an important subject to me at that time. I had an art show at Ye Olde Post Shop down the road, at which time I hung my matted paintings with clothespins, as I recall, across clothesline that I strung from post to post on the fron porch of the shop.  Those are warm and fuzzy memories from the year that I was twenty one, having my first real adventure in life, away from my family back in Cortland, New York. Great carefree times.