Life on the Hudson

Following in the Footsteps of the Hudson River School

Photo of the Gates of the Hudson River Highlands

Our first great painting adventure began when we were offered free rent for the winter in East Hampton, L.I. in 1980. We were both in our 20s then, and felt that we needed to stretch our wings and fly out of our nest in Lawrence, Kansas. Ann’s older sister Jeanie Stiles and her husband David, invited us to stay in their summer place—an old barn, which they had moved to a new spot near the water and had been lovingly restoring by hand for 20 years. We had fallen in love with “The Barn” on previous visits, so we jumped at the chance, packed up some belongings and art equipment in our 1967 Chevy pickup, and headed East toward an uncertain future.

John began his art career in New York by taking on commercial art jobs, primarily book illustration, to pay the bills until he could develop a body of fine art with which he could try to interest a gallery. Ann’s artwork was developing in the mediums of weaving and contemporar…