Florence Fessler is a graduate of Leesville High School. As a young woman, she married a man serving in the Army at Fort Polk and travelled with him for the next 21 years. She saw a lot of the country and met some wonderful people. While living in Oahu, Hawaii, she saw some of nature’s most beautiful flowers, trees and landscapes. A neighbor grew orchids and Plumeria grew everywhere. She began painting in oils, but from the first time she picked up a watercolor brush, she fell in love with this wondrous medium. The first things she painted were flowers.

With no formal art training and only a few workshops during recent years, she has continued her journey as a watercolorist by simply never giving up on this difficult medium. She loves the excitement of watercolor and the effects that can be created as in no other art form. Fessler believes “Experience is truly the best teacher and the joy is in the journey.” She has now been painting in watercolor for over 35 years.