About R. Gordon Benson
I never imagined that I would become a watercolor artist. Although I've always appreciated and admired folks who could create art, it never occurred to me that I could learn how to do it. Then, as a New Year's resolution back in 2019, at age 68, I decided to take watercolor classes with a friend at the Sautee Nachoochee Cultural Center near Helen, GA. And I LOVED IT! So, after countless hours of painting and perfecting my skills, here I am. Sometimes I wonder why it took me so long to start creating art. But after carefully considering a lot of things, I decided it simply wasn't my time. Let me explain...
I recently came to the realization that my life, for the most part, has been a series of 12 year cycles in which each dozen years or so I spend my time doing a job and various activities quite different from the other 12 year periods. There have been 5 of these cycles so far and art is my current and 6th cycle.
It all started in 1951 when I was born in the Gwinnett County town of Buford Ga. The town is located in an area where my father's side of the family were pioneer settlers arriving about 70 years before Buford which is 150 years old was even a town. I grew up in a wonderful family with a musician mother and a business owning father, 4 siblings and lots of cousins. It was during these early formative years that I went through my first 12 year cycle when I attended the 1st through 12th grades in the Buford City Schools system. I graduated in 1969 at age 17 and left immediately for Georgia College in Milledgeville, GA.
During my second cycle (ages 18-30), I learned about life through a variety of experiences some might call the College of Hard Knocks. It started at Georgia College but included many other venues and places over this time. Bump number one was that I didn't like the trajectory my major, sociology, was sending me so I dropped out and moved back to Atlanta. I worked at several jobs mostly in sales and, by some fluke of fate, moved to Europe when I was 22. I always say living abroad and especially Europe was my real education. I loved my time there and began to appreciate art and artists in a meaningful way. I found work doing all kinds of things from being a janitor, to teaching GED to soldiers. I lived there for 4 wonderful years, met and married my beautiful wife, Helen, and traveled to dozens of countries. We moved back to Georgia when I was 28 and bought our first home. Then, after a stint in office supply sales, I decided I really wanted to be a public school teacher.
So, my third 12 year cycle (ages 30-44) began when I attended Georgia State University for 2 years, received my teaching degree, and began teaching middle school in Gwinnett and later Forsyth counties. I absolutely loved my years of teaching and continued my education at North Georgia College where I received my Masters degree. I worked in some wonderful schools with terrific people and loved watching my young students grow and thrive. My wife and I even taught adults GED classes in the evening part time for about 5 years during this period.
However, after about a dozen years in the classroom, I was ready to move on to a new challenge. So during my fourth, twelve-year cycle (ages 44-56), a natural segway was to apply my knowledge of curriculum and use it to produce opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom setting. I created Tours That Teach. Inc. for this purpose and became an educational tour operator. During these years, my wife and I, along with a group of terrific helpers and guides, produced curriculum-based study trips for literally tens of thousands of students and teachers to Savannah, Charleston, the space coast of Florida, Atlanta, Chattanooga and up the coast to Williamsburg, Washington DC and New York City. It was a somewhat hectic lifestyle but we had a lot of fun doing it. Most importantly, we met some terrific children and a great many wonderful, dedicated teachers in the process. By 2008, though, we were ready to slow down so we sold the business and retired from education. I was 56 at the time.
Thus began my fifth twelve-year cycle (ages 56-68) when my occupation was volunteering. This period started when my wife and I took classes to become Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists. In addition to working in public gardens and helping in various capacities around the community, we taught children about gardening in a Junior Master Gardener class we helped create. I also taught classes to adults on vermiculture (using worms to create organic plant food from kitchen waste). Perhaps our favorite volunteer job during this period was feeding the trout a couple of times a month at Smithgall Woods State Park near Helen, Ga.
Towards the end of this volunteering cycle, I served on the board at the Sautee Nacoochee Cultural Center near Helen which has 2 art galleries, a world class pottery museum and lots of art activities. It was because of my involvement at this place that I decided to take watercolor lessons and thus began my 6th (and current) twelve-year cycle
Watercoloring is a perfect activity for someone my age (72) and I'd enthusiastically encourage everyone to try it or any other artform that appeals to you. Since I've been at it for 5 years now, I still have 7 more years to be engaged in the craft if my twelve-year cycle pattern holds true. But, I don't think so! I believe being a watercolorist will be my occupation for many, many years to come. I still get up almost every morning excited to create beautiful paintings brightening the lives of others and the world around me!
My First Watercolor Painting