It was September, 1963. The Beatles hadn’t even hit North America yet. Carl Wright was 21 years old, fresh out of university, and walking into Green’s Harbour’s Central High School as its new teacher.

The school was brand new at the time, serving students from six surrounding communities. Besides French and physics, Carl was also a homeroom teacher to a grade ten class. That’s where he met Clifford — a student who doodled in all the margins and sketched anatomical diagrams for biology class. He’d round up old house paint from neighbours to paint empty bleach bottles.

It was hard to get real art supplies in outport Newfoundland. So when Carl returned home to St. John’s, he gathered up some oil paints and brushes from his parents’ basement where an artist had been lodging. He gave them to Clifford. And that changed everything.

Clifford George is a beloved landscape artist, capturing the beauty of Newfoundland and Labrador on canvas for the past 60 years. You can see his work at the Christina Parker Gallery in St. John’s. He still thinks of Mr. Wright every time he grabs a tube of paint.