To us, giving all to the pursuit of light was a way of life. We painted some summers from June to October and from morning to sunset every day with time out for critiques and lectures. We all attended a painting demonstration every Friday morning in Henry’s back yard.

     We learned to see and paint in a way that had been handed down from, essentially, Monet to some American artists including Chase and Hawthorne, and then to Henry. Here was the collected wisdom and experience of several generations of artists - each refining the color ideas over his lifetime. As students we felt the importance of the teachings and speculated about who might get the task of carrying on the master’s work. We thought if we were worthy and worked hard enough it could be one of us. But Henry never did name a successor. The knowledge is alive most clearly in the best of Henry’s students.

     What students got from Henry was at least three generations of artistic heritage. We joked and had fun while painting away the summers, but we were all deadly serious about being part of that great heritage and carrying it on. As we advanced in knowledge and experience we were encouraged to do a little teaching to both pass it on and hone our own skills. I began teaching in 1976.

     What Henry said is what he lived. That was backed up by his wife, Ada Rayner, who lived with him for many years and painted flowers in sunlight fresh from their large garden. We believed she surpassed Renior in that genre. She liked to talk about the idea too - how children could be taught to see “colors that have no names.”

     Along with all the ideas about painting were teachings about life, politics, diet, the art world, art history and students sticking together to help each other make greater progress. “We help each other and we all rise,” Hensche said. It was fairly simple to grasp the idea intellectually. It was difficult to put into competent practice, however. It meant letting go of lazy ways of seeing and thinking.

Painting must be done each time with freshness of vision gotten by not allowing painting to fall into any kind of mannered execution or way of thinking. He refrained from design instruction, and referred us to Hawthorne’s quote, “I never saw a beautiful bit of color that was bad design.”

     What Hensche said about color was very specific, however, and he spared no painting demonstration, lecture or righteous indignation to prove it to us over and over. The value was in refinement of seeing, as he called it, refinement of vision. We gradually overcame limitations toward an ever-clearer vision. One of the toughest hurdles to overcome was the realization that if we were honest, true quality would take time to achieve.

     “Make a colored over-statement” was one of the tenets of practical application which led to more vital color according to the light keys of nature and our gradually growing interpretation of those light keys. Start with pure color and make colors that have no names.

     Intense and eager, we hung on Henry’s every word and applied the color teachings with every bit of our vigor. We made great efforts daily to see a little more, to feel a bit more sincerely the true beauty of what lay before our vision and to become more adept at producing the work which would echo our new vision. And we did it for years. We learned to see light key differences at first through the eyes of Henry and the more advanced students, then began to find our own.

     Henry said often that someday we students would surpass him in painting new color combinations. Successful students of Henry take the greater color knowledge gained by study and apply it with originality. Ultimately it is an attitude toward excellence and high standards of execution that get gradually refined over more lifetimes that will honor the teachings of these dedicated artists.

Joe Szarek, Abiquiu, NM