Homer Watson painted this piece when he was just fifteen years old and with no formal art training. Homer had his younger sister, Phoebe, pose in this painting along with a neighbour. Like Homer, Phoebe would also grow up to become an artist. Phoebe noted that as a child “Homer was always messing around with paints but I didn’t do much until after he left home.” By all accounts, Homer was a born artist. During family dinners, Homer was more interested in making images out of his food than eating his meal. When he was not outside playing in the forests of Doon, Homer was in his father’s study, looking through his collection of Penny Magazines, studying the images of paintings created by the great European artists.
