Founder of the Fairfield Watercolor Group

One joy in his life was the Fairfield Watercolor Group, founded in 1948 by Walter DuBois Richards, Stevan Dohanos and Hardie. The three of them had been caught up in the battle of illustration deadlines, and painting for themselves was neglected. It occurred to Wally that if they got together with other artists and agreed to do a painting each month, it would give them all the needed discipline. The group of twelve met for 56 years on a Sunday afternoon each month in the studio of one of the members (rotating throughout the year) to discuss their work, methods, materials and points of view. Each member presented a painting for comment and criticism by the group. Susan Radel in an article in the Fairfield Citizen News, March 3, 1976, quoted Hardie as saying, "There is no other group like this in America. Inquiries come from other parts of the country, but they don't seem to be successful in organizing a group. You get charged up going up against your peers - your jury is right here. It's magnificent - I love it!" It helped that the spouses are invited to the meetings. When Fred and Eileen Monahan Whitaker lived in the next town, Norwalk, they were members as well as Ward Brackett and Dolli Tingle Brackett and Wally Richards’ wife, Glenora, a well-known miniaturist. Members have been selected regardless of how they think or work, and contrasting styles and viewpoints are evident ... and mutual respect is high. Through the artists' involvement in this group, paintings that otherwise would not have been painted have won prizes and gone all over the world. [Information on the Fairfield Watercolor Group came from an article in North Light magazine, Summer 1969]