Artist Ted Blaylock gave away his prints from beneath Collinsville’s Woodland Park pavilion on a warm fall afternoon.
Wildlife scenes of ducks in flight, soaring eagles and deer tromping through snow. Detailed mountain villages, trains with smoke trailing behind, workhorses pulling hay wagons.
Folks at his family reunion looked through and chose what they liked.
“I probably started out with maybe 150 prints,” said Ted, 73, visiting from Mesa, Ariz. “They average $100 to $150.”
The self-taught artist was born on a farm in Perryville, Mo., grew up in East St. Louis and graduated from East St. Louis High School in 1959.
“I was supposed to graduate in ’57, but I had quit school,” said Ted. “After a year of making 75 cents an hour, I went back. Later, I went to a trade school for welding.”
He worked as a steamfitter for
Article source: http://www.bnd.com/2013/12/29/2976857/go-west-young-artist-former-east.html