Admit it or not, we are all wannabe artists. At one time or another, in one way or another, we feel the need to express ourselves. The question is how – vocally? In gestures? In what medium? This is the story of one person who took over 80 years, in an effort to make people see beauty as he saw it – with watercolors.

Tom Leytham chose the drawing of images to express his view of life in unexpected ways. From his childhood, he translated his observations into compositions that were edited, often spare — not an entire meadow for example, but as a few delicate blades bending in the wind. Not as a decaying barn, but as a remnant of life caught in a singular moment in time. Not as a glossy, colorful vehicle, but as the result of a once useful life, frozen in time and space.

Tom desired to express himself from a decidedly personal viewpoint; he chose the medium of watercolor as what suited him best. However, he never satisfied college painting teachers with his personal explorations. One professor flatly predicted he would never become a successful artist; another that he should search elsewhere for his future. But Tom steadfastly pursued his dream, his passion for the next 60 years, occasionally prompted by rare moments of encouragement along the way.

When I first met Tom, the husband to my friend Meg Ostrum of Montpelier, Vermont — she, developing successfully as a writer and he, pursuing an architectural career. He was still wrestling with his first love: seeing the world of beauty “his way” with his view of life using watercolors as his medium.

Meg had faith in his perseverance, agreeing with his artistic bent, as he sunsetted from his work as an architect and university instructor to realize his ambition of becoming recognized for his paintings. I bought a few that pleased me, and he sold others sporadically, first in Vermont, then gradually extending as far as the art scene in New York City. And he gained recognition — and awards — as he progressed.

But it wasn’t until recently, when he sent me photos of his latest work, that I realized something amazing had happened. Tom’s watercolors now blazed with a new brilliance — an exciting, hard to describe pleasure; clearly, they had finally succeeded, not just in beauty, but in a subtle statement that I think Tom had always been aiming for.

The beauty lay in Tom’s private vision of ordinary things; old cars now took on a new look, as did rural Vermont; the blades of grass now expressed a new beauty, and the wings of a butterfly glimmered with a new translucent delicacy as they might from the artist’s unique imagination.

I could now experience what Tom wanted me to see: ordinary everyday objects — now transformed into shining, fantastic things of beauty seen against an unpainted simplicity for background. To me — and I’m sure anyone experienced in the appreciation of art would agree, Tom had arrived. All that remains now is for public and critical appreciation. It will come, slowly perhaps, with right eventful recognition.

I’m watching for both public and professional appreciation with all the results soon to occur. (To see his work, go to https://www.tomleythamwatercolors.com/)