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Biography
U.S. artist Don Lynn is grateful for Lunenburg County, where he finds a wealth of inspiration.
He explores the world of landscape and quickly credits the marvelous surroundings where he and his wife, Harriet, live nearly half the year. “I’m a great devotee of looking at what the eye can see in nature,” he says, “and sometimes that translates into a picture.”
Each June, for over two decades, the Lynns have left their home in the Washington, D.C. area and headed north to their cape home in Riverport, Nova Scotia. There Don spends much of his time painting in his studio, which looks out at their neighborhood of Five Houses and across the channel to Himmelman’s Hill.
Although their home had been carefully modernized when they bought it, the Lynns saw plenty of potential. “We’ve spent the last seventeen years or so un-modernizing it,” Don notes. Gone is the picture window, back in place are the doors and the six-over-six windows. In most ways, their Cape is now as it was when constructed in 1850.
In 1946 and 1947, Don worked as a cartoonist for a base newspaper. After finishing his army air corps stint, he returned to attend college in Washington, D.C., where he graduated with a bachelor of arts.
“Most of the artists who influenced me,” he says, “were ones I studied with in the 1940’s. Bill Calfee and Robert Gates were well known in the Washington area. In New York, action painter Jack Tworkov was an excellent teacher. He was associated with de Kooning, Pollack, and others in New York.”
Although Don trained in oils, Bob Gates got him going with watercolors. Later, acrylics were a natural progression. Don paints on site. “I like to see what I’m painting, there’s so much to look at,” he says.
Don managed a gallery in his senior year. “We put on some good shows for a little university. I had the honor of carrying an Edgar Degas sculpture, the Little Dancer. These days, you’d have to have an armored guard. We’d take a panel van, load it up and drive it back down without all kinds of insurance. Calfee was very well connected in New York.”
Early in his career, Don made his living as an illustrator, art director, and graphic artist. He painted throughout those years, but with three kids, he had to make a living first.
After retiring in 1985, the Lynns bought their Lunenburg County home. That’s where Don really flourishes. “Back in Arlington, Virginia, I rarely have a chance,” he admits. Dealing part time in antique toys and trains keeps him busy Stateside.
For a time, after retiring, Don taught at George Washington University. That stint didn’t last as long as it could have because it meant leaving Nova Scotia in August, rather than lingering until late October.
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