“I wanted to learn to paint so much that I would have endured about anything. You go down the road and you see something and you pass it every day and finally you just have to paint it. I just have the urge to create something and I just can’t give it up. It’s part of my life. I can’t think of living if I don’t paint.” – Florence Thomas

Born in Ashe County in 1909, Florence Thomas grew up in a world difficult to visualize today. With no electricity, few roads and no means of travel except walking or horses.  Small communities, each with its own church, country store, and school, were essential.  Florence’s parents made their living from the land, but they valued education for their eight children above all.  Florence had her first exposure to painting in high school. She and a classmate made copies of paintings on scraps of canvas which they sold for two dollars apiece. She had found her passion and pursued it for the rest of her life, though the road was never easy…