Virginia Berresford first visited Florida in 1932 with her husband Ben Thielen. Her first winter in Florida resulted in an oil painting Tropic Island, 1934 which was included in Berresford’s 1936 solo exhibition at New York’s Walker Art Gallery.... Berresford wrote in her journal, “In Key West I got the idea of breaking loose from my usual severe painting style, partly Ozenfant inspired; I loosened up, went into watercolor, used daring free strokes and bright colors.” [Virginia’s Journal, an Autobiography of an Artist, p. 41]. Berresford’s first solo exhibition of watercolors was held in New York at the Marie Sterner Gallery in 1938.... Our exhibition includes nine of these Florida watercolors. Winters in Key West became a regular thing.... The couple rented a house in Coconut Grove.... There Berresford used her bedroom as a studio and taught watercolor techniques to soldiers at Miami Hospital for the Red Cross.... [http://www.dwigmore.com/women-artists-FL_essay.html]