A.D. Greer New York (1904-98) FLORAL STILL LIFE oil on canvas, framed signed: lower right H25" W30" *Artist biography: A traditional oil painter of Western landscapes and still lifes, A.D. Greer was born in Pondcreek, Oklahoma in 1904 and lived in Austin, Texas since 1965. "I was expelled from public school for drawing in class," he recalls. "Some of the drawings were risque, and there was talk of sending me to the reform school. The probate judge, however, was a woman. She said I belonged in an art school, not in a reform school. "I was about seventeen before I started painting with watercolors, and then I switched to oils when I was twenty. The first oil painting I sold was for $50. Even if I couldn't sell something, I'd draw a picture for something to eat. I took whatever I could get a hold of for money that was honest. In 1941, I was doing stage curtains, fine art for galleries, and hustling pool. A man came to me and said he wanted to publish two of my paintings. I said, 'If I were your son, would you advise me to do this?' He said, 'Sure,' and so I did it. "One of the paintings reproduced eventually sold more than a million copies. From then on, I didn't have to worry about selling. As soon as I'd get one done, I'd take it to a dealer and they'd buy it. If I see a thing-say the North end of the Grand Canyon-I look at it until I memorize it, and then I sly back to Austin and paint it. I also have files of pictures, but I don't paint from those pictures. If I would want to paint some grapes, I have a lot of pictures of grapes, and the night before I started I might take those pictures out and look at them, then I'd put them away, go to bed, and get up the net morning and start painting."