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Paul once wrote, “I create for the challenge in each piece and for the sheer joy of creating . . . I paint because it is natural for me to do so, like the other necessities for survival.”
During his career which spanned more than fifty years he created works in a wide variety of media – primarily oils in the early years as well as graphite, lithography, ink and terra cotta. His early experimenting with transparent watercolor gradually grew into the style he brought to IWA. Much of his national and international reputation is built on his exquisite watercolors. A natural educator, Paul couldn’t help sharing his knowledge and love of art. He and Peg regularly escorted student groups to Europe – trips that he must surely have enjoyed as much as they did.
Several of our members were fortunate to have been his students and others of us learned how willing he was to share his “secrets”. At the same time, he was eager to learn from us and was absolutely ecstatic when he found he’d made some new thing work for him. Paul came to Indiana Wildlife Artists in 1983 after he learned that the art guild he’d always hoped for had finally come to be. He worked to help us grow – finding places for us to exhibit, hanging the shows with an expert eye, and displaying our work at an Earth Day showing at Indianapolis.
He created art for two sets of the IWA notecards and then sold record numbers. Paul was a gentle and generous person. His need for beauty in his life was reflected in the small birds and animals others might not even see; it was in the shape of a leaf, the color of a butterfly’s wing or the gracefulness of his orchids. He said, “I paint because I have to paint”. We are so glad that he did.
