My artist friend, Helga Jaques, and I had come to visit her friend Louis Anderson at his hundred year old cabin. Louis has lived here since he bought it with his father in 1963, with a mortgage of $75 a month!

Louis, an artist renowned in the Northwest, greeted us at the door. A deck in the front yard overlooks Lake Washington. We were in the hills close to Dead Horse Canyon and on the border of the south end of Seattle and Renton. Originally a 163 acre homestead, it is near the old road into Renton, and there is a lot of history here. You can find the remains of an old barn and buried farm implements.

We passed through his studio, filled with his brightly colorful watercolors, and into his cozy living room.

He told me he was born in Kentucky, but moved to Renton with his family when he was 17, though he doesn’t like to talk about the not-so pleasant memories of his youth in Kentucky.

Struck by polio when he was only a few weeks old, he spent many years off and on having surgeries at the children’s hospital in Louisville. They lived in a coal mining company town, where his father worked in the mines. Although he had an older brother and two older sisters, Louis was often lonely. He shared with me that the local families wouldn’t let their children play with him because of his disabilities.

After his dad returned from fighting in World War II, he didn’t want to face the dangers of coal mining anymore so they relocated to Michigan, where he worked for a small division of Boeing.

Then in 1954, he was transferred to the Boeing here in Renton – coincidently a mining town as well! The family rented a house on Williams, and he attended Renton High School.

“Renton has been the center of my activities most of my life.” Louis said.

But it was at the University of Washington where he discovered his greatest calling in life. He took a drawing class and fell in love with all of the arts.

After attaining a graduate degree in art at an academy on the East Coast, he came back to Renton. From 1960 to 1968, he worked in the art department at Boeing which helped him to pay off his student loans.

“This was long before computer design,” Louis said. “I created renderings of airplane parts on a drafting table – often having to start from scratch with changing specifications. Then, after the presentations, these works of art would just disappear!”

Later, he worked as an art teacher at Garfield High in Seattle.

“It was a bad area with lots of riots, Louis explained. “But we were trying to develop an art academy with twenty-five art teachers – until the money ran out. I really wanted to have more time for painting, and teaching was not allowing me to do that.”

Finally able to pursue his dream, he painted in oils until discovering he was allergic to turpentine. Switching to watercolors has brought him great success. His paintings can be found in several public buildings and private homes, both here in Renton and throughout the Northwest.

He was inspired by Jackson Pollock and is a prolific artist who paints quickly and from the heart.

“My paintings keep getting better,” Louis says, “My best have been in the last five years. An idea has to start somewhere inside of you. Sometimes I have to charge my batteries for a while between paintings. I have a process where I display my latest painting nearby. I stare at it and I really like it for a few days, but when I start finding fault with it, it’s time to paint again,” he said.

At 78, Louis is fiercely independent and doesn’t let his crutches slow him down a bit. He is quite active in spite of the crutches, and patronizes many of the local businesses in Renton. He also loves attending the ballet in Seattle.

Living comfortably alone, he avidly reads a variety of literary works. A book about Stalin sat by him on the couch.

“I was educated to be a country gentleman,” Louis said with a laugh. “But there isn’t much call for that these days.”

One of his admirers wrote, “Watching Louis paint, seeing his brush dance across the paper is like watching a ballet.” He loves to cook for his friends. A connoisseur of fine wines, he stores them in a cool wine cellar – the original basement in the old cabin.

Louis Anderson’s art has been shown in many museums, galleries and art shows – including Renton’s Annual Art show. If you want to see his work, you can contact me at renton.creativeside@gmail.com and I will forward your request.