Dancing With Light ― The Art of Robert O. Caulfield

Take a journey through Robert's incredible life--the inspiring story of a man who overcame a brutal childhood and long odds to find success as one of America's best-selling landscape artists. A gorgeous compilation of Robert's work, presenting over 270 reproductions spanning his seventy-year career. Includes personal comments on each painting by the artist.

Following his parents' separation when he was six years old, Robert O. Caulfield, along with his brother Joe, was entrusted to the care of his unstable maternal grandmother. The boys spent the next six years running wild on the perilous streets of Depression-era Roxbury, Massachusetts. Robert first began drawing in chalk on those city streets and sidewalks, despite the fact that his artistic efforts were met with either indifference or hostility from those around him. Horrified by the neglect the boys were enduring, Robert's paternal grandparents adopted them when they were on the verge of adolescence, saving them from the poverty they had known since birth. Overnight, the boys stepped into a carefree suburban life on Boston's North Shore. Robert's paternal grandmother was the first to encourage his artistic drive, buying him his first set of oil paints one Christmas. Despite the middle-class comforts that transformed the boys' lives, the wounds inflicted by their childhood would linger for life. A gifted athlete, Robert was a reluctant student who turned down scholarship offers from Harvard and Holy Cross before finishing high school. After a stint in the Marine Corps, he eloped with his high school sweetheart, Marilyn Le Blanc. During the first few years of their marriage, Robert studied art at night school in Boston. Those studies ended when the financial demands of his growing family took precedence over his artistic dreams. Over the next thirty years, Robert worked his way up from laborer to upper management in a utility company. Working sixty-hour weeks to support his family, he grabbed time to paint whenever he could, exhibiting his landscapes locally and selling about five paintings per year. There were periods when Robert struggled with self-doubt, and wondered if pursuing his dream of becoming a professional artist was a waste of time. Marilyn's faith in her husband's talent never waned, and her encouragement, along with occasional awards and newspaper articles about his work, would spark his dream to life again. Marilyn persuaded Robert to take early retirement a few years after one of his paintings received national exposure in "Yankee" magazine. Together, they left behind a comfortable lifestyle to open an art gallery showcasing Robert's work. Their risk paid off in spectacular fashion. Over the past three decades Robert has risen to prominence as one of the best-selling artists in the United States, selling nearly three thousand of his original landscapes and watercolors. His paintings now hang in public and private collections the world over.AUTHOR HOME: Woodstock, Vermont