This was my first watercolor. Eight of us had rented a cottage in Cape May and on our first day out, someone said, “Let’s eat!” The other painters quickly packed up their watercolors, piled into their cars and went off safari style in search of food. I, the only oil painter, struggled with rags, turpentine and wet canvases, and by the time I was packed up and in my car, they were nowhere in sight. I went back to the cottage by myself to await the magic hour of four in the afternoon when we had arranged to meet, no matter where we had painted that day, at the little shop that sold homemade ice cream. That night, Phil gave me a half sheet of cold press watercolor paper (15″ x 22″), three watercolor sable brushes of various sizes, a huge Hake brush, and a palette filled with incredible, brilliant colors. Two Boys Two Kites was created the next day. For years we painted in Cape May, and every day that we painted, we met at 4 o’clock for ice-cream.
