When the Collins Family owned the Wolf Pen Mill Estates located out Highway 42 from Louisville, Kentucky, they met me at a St. James Art show and because of my great respect for the beauty of Kentucky’s woodlands and forest areas, invited me to visit their treasured homestead, I considered this a great honor because at the time it was patrolled by the Sheriff’s deputies to prevent trespassers from entering their land.
With loaded cameras, Uncle Frank, Aunt Adrienne, my cousin Dianne Miller and myself set out to capture reference material for me to later use in painting canvas works.
I still smile when I recall Dianne following Aunt Adrienne tip toeing across a downstream waterfall and Uncle Frank walking behind me on a narrow forest path. We learned that Sallie Bingham once lived in a cabin near the Mill. Sallie carried her own water because facilities were not available at the time. Sallie would later purchase the property and use it for benefit of women in programs sponsored by The Kentucky Foundation for Women.
I am pleased to present the Mill on various canvases and am happy that prints of its areas hang in many homes. Southern Federal Savings And Loan Association held an extensive TV campaign which offered prints of the Mill, Scotty’s Retreat and Keenen’s Falls Autumn as an incentive for individuals to make deposits to their accounts. It was very pleasant to see my prints advertised to local TV viewers and I considered it to be a humbling reward for the many alone hours I stayed in my work area. Artists and Craftsmen like to now and then be thanked for completing their works,
dour group set out on an expedition to capture