However, it was his summers (1949 - 50) at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, whose teachers
emphasized plein air painting and working from life, that were a transformative experience for the young artist, giving him, as he has stated, «a reason to devote my life to painting.»
Hoppin writes that the «unconventional works
emphasize expressive form and brushwork over changes in light effects, weather, and time of day, the more traditional concerns of
plein air painting.