He has traveled in all 50 states and 28 foreign countries and has the pictures to prove it - not the kind most people bring back from their journeys but the oil and watercolor pictures actually painted outdoors on the trips or later from sketches and photo references.

Vienna, WV artist, Lee Fritch will be introduced at the Artworks Around Town Gallery Hop, 5 -8 Friday evening, March 5 when his work will be shown in the Studio Gallery.

Considering how Lee was introduced to the world of art, it is not surprising that he most enjoys painting out of doors (plein air). The story begins in the mid 50s when he was an engineering student at Penn State Univ. He and his future wife were having a quiet and peaceful afternoon picnic at a scenic PA spot on a stream where a spillway and an old mill were located. As he describes the incident, "Here comes this guy...looking like Mr. Clean...dressed only in hiking shorts, no shirt, bronze, muscular...and carrying an easel and canvas. Not my idea of what I thought an artist should look like. He set up right by us under the oak tree and proceeded to do an oil painting of the red mill. I had always loved to draw, and what he was doing looked like a lot of fun. I mustered up the courage to go talk to him briefly. I asked him what I would have to buy (with my very limited funds) if I wanted to try oil painting. He kindly told me, and the next day I went out and bought some canvas boards,three brushes, four tubes of paint and started painting. I have been painting ever since.

"The man's name was Bill Behler from Bethlehem, PA. He was a professional artist and teacher, and, in that few minutes of time he unselfishly spent with me under that tree by Kern's Dam, he changed my life profoundly."

The next few years of school, beginning career and family, did not leave much time to paint. He did a few paintings in his spare time and studied "how to" art books.

Lee began to seriously pursue his art in the early 70s when he took his first watercolor workshop with Bill Gerhold, head of the Art Dept. at Marietta College. He found watercolor, despite having "certain inherent difficulties", in many ways simpler than oils and lending itself to using small chunks of free time. Over the next few years, he took several workshops a year studying with many nationally known artists, and, for about the next 20 years, estimates that he painted 90 to 120 watercolors a year. His work is sold at outdoor art shows, exhibits and at 2 galleries which represent him.

In the 1980's he began to teach workshops and private lessons which he continues to do to this day . He has also been a visiting lecturer in watercolor painting at several colleges and served as a juror for art shows.

Lee regularly exhibits in state, regional and national shows and has won over 45 awards for his work. He was a finalist in the prestigious National Arts for the Parks competition in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His work has appeared in the book "One Hundred Ways to Paint Flowers and Still Lifes" published by International Artist Magazine. Forty-one of his paintings are in institutional or corporate collections including 6 in the collection of Sen. J.D. Rockefeller IV and 3 in the permanent collection of the Parkersburg Art Center. In the late 70s his work was juried into Tamarack.

Lee retired in 1991 and says, of his retirement years, " Art became the major activity of my life and my identity . I 'do art' every day in some way or another. I have given up several hobbies.. things like golf and fishing to make time for my art".

Lee believes that there is a rational thinking process that one uses to get successful paintings employing the basics and fundamentals of the craft. He does not believe talent "Has to be dropped in your lap by God", that what one needs is persistence and courage in the face of the failure one must neccessarily work through. He considers the pursuit of art a constant learning process, and, of himself says, "I will always be a student and glad that I will never graduate. I LOVE the learning process."

Artworks Around Town Gallery is located in the North end of the historic Centre Market at 2200 Market St. in Wheeling. The Hop is free and open to all. Visitors will enjoy refreshments and music throughout the evening. For further information, (304)233-7540 or the website, artworksaroundtown.org.