DARMSTADT -- Today, Evelyn Steinkuhl had to take three of her original oil paintings to the Newburgh Library, where they will hang for one month.
She put on her favorite pink gingham dress, the one her husband bought for her a couple of years ago, and drove her studio-on-wheels van across town.
"He's the one that pushed me to where I am today," said the 70-year-old self-taught painter.
Her career took off after she won an award in 1977 and had her first prints made from "Frosty Indiana Day."
On that December day she sat in the back of her Chrysler in front of the old Schultz's Mill in Elberfeld, a place where her mother would buy chicken feed when Mrs. Steinkuhl was a teen-ager.
She spread all the oil paints out in the back seat and kept the engine on to stay warm. She studied the scene through her windshield and transferred it onto the 14- by 18-inch canvas.
As she grew into her art, she outgrew her space at home. Her husband turned the carport into a studio, next to the kitchen "so he wouldn't miss any meals."
This week, he completed a sunporch workspace so she can paint outside with the benefits of fresh air and natural light.
She learned to mat and frame her |
prints by visiting frame shops. She also learned how to promote her prints by entering arts and crafts shows.
She never had formal art training, although she admits taking a class or two locally. When asked which great historic painters she admires, she admits that "no one comes to mind." Hallmark card and book artist Marjorie Bastin, whose images include birds and
flowers, is clearly her favorite. She also credits local artist Calvin Maglinger.
Most of her images are of historical places in Southern Indiana, Currently, she's painting a scene that brings to life the University of Evansville. Numerous schools and churches have asked her to paint their buildings. Some paintings are bought, and the institutions make prints and sell them at fund-raisers.
"I don't think I'll do anymore schools after this," she says. She'd rather paint scenes from yesteryear in the country. "I think I'll do covered bridges. There are a lot of covered bridges I want to do for myself."
For now, working in her farm studio amid the sound of singing birds suits this lover of the country life.
"I think I'll probably be a Grandma Moses," she says. "I think I'll paint 'til I'm 100."
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