George Wharton Edwards

New Orleans is famous for its massive, historic live oak trees. A few years ago, I spent the month of June in New Orleans volunteering on repairing old houses with a non-profit group. I would spend my free time getting to know the city better and enjoying walking in Audubon Park along St. Charles Avenue and in the Garden District with its stately homes. It was on these leisurely walks that I encountered the magnificence of New Orleans live oak trees. They provided much-appreciated shade and were often draped in Spanish Moss. In Audubon Park, you will find the famous "Tree of Life," a massive, centuries-old live oak that's worth a detour.

Saturn Press features a stunning card, Live Oak, by the talented American artist George Wharton Edwards, whose watercolor work captures the trees' quiet majesty.

He was born in Fair Haven, Connecticut, in 1859, and from a young age, he showed a natural passion for drawing and sketching. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He traveled to Europe countless times to study art, particularly in France, where he absorbed watercolor techniques that he made his own.

Edwards was known primarily as an illustrator and watercolorist, and worked for magazines and book publishers. He was art director at Collier's Magazine from 1896 to 1903, where he honed his distinctive style. He also carried over his meticulous attention to detail to the American Bank Note Company, where he worked from 1904 to 1912, overseeing the design of banknotes, something one doesn't even think about but takes for granted.

George Wharton Edwards had a love for nature's details, and through our letterpress card, Live Oak, his love of beauty, precision, and quiet observation endures. George Wharton Edwards died in 1950 and left behind work that you can see today at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, and the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware.

Bring a touch of Edwards' elegance into your home or gift it to a friend who appreciates the quiet beauty of nature.

- Deirdre Keogh