publisher, and spoke with their executives. They asked him to send some pencil sketches of winter scenes for them to consider for their 1967 Christmas card line. He sent them 23 sketches hoping that they’d accept a few. They accepted all 23. For the next twelve years, he illustrated Christmas cards for Red Farm and several other greeting card companies. It was a nice compromise between commercial and fine art. He pretty much used his own ideas for subject matter, mostly New England farm scenes, fishing ports, and covered bridges. And, best of all, he could paint them in his favorite medium, transparent watercolors.
Throughout the 1960’s, Frank produced hundreds of beautiful watercolor paintings. Many of our vacations were spent traveling through New England making stops here and there to sketch or photograph picturesque scenes. He made the final paintings at home in his studio. He then framed them and took them to art shows and galleries. Those that he sold were a significant supplement to his income. This was often a bone of contention with the family. Many of his paintings were so impressive that we didn’t want him to sell them, but of course we had to concede as these paintings were paying the bills and keeping food on the table. Unfortunately, his most beautiful pieces always sold the fastest.
Between 1960 and 1970, Frank won 26 major awards at art shows. In 1967, he was elected to active membership in the American Watercolor Society, an honor that meant a great deal to him. As was the tradition with AWS members, he subsequently signed all his paintings “Frank Soltesz AWS”.
In 1969, with all three of their children grown and pretty much on their own, Frank and Loretta sold their too-big house in South Salem (but kept the cottage) and built a smaller house in Sherman, CT. Frank set up a studio in the house, again with large windows viewing the forest.
Frank was frugal. With each successive studio, he installed the same equipment he had been using since he first went free-lance: the same old wooden drawing table, the same creaky chair and taboret, and even the same vases he used to hold his brushes and water.
Meanwhile, Uncle Bill had retired from BBD&O and had moved to Massachusetts. He too became an accomplished watercolorist and was exhibiting and selling paintings throughout northern New England. He kept his cottage on Lake Oscaleta right up to the day he died in 1998, at age 93.
“Their Last Run” Painted September 1975