2016: ROCKSDALE NATIVE HAROLD 'TOMMY' WHYTSELL PASSES (1943-2016): PAINTED PRIMITIVE ART LANDSCAPES - Got Artist Gene From Grandfather

(02/26/2026)

WHYTSELL PASSES 1943-2016 A 73-year-old Egypt Ridge (Roane County) man, Harold "Tommy" Whytsell (right) says he does painting art because it relaxes him, particularly during the winter months. Whytsell likely has an artisan gene inherited from his grandfather Edwin Whytsell of Rocksdale-Richardson, who did primitive art using most any object or left-over paint he could find. See Grandfather's Primitive Paintings: WHYTSELL REMEMBERED FOR PRIMITIVE PAINTINGS PART I WHYTSELL REMEMBERED FOR PRIMITIVE PAINTINGS PART II Whytsell, who spent his childhood along the West Fork of the Little Kanawha, the son of Charles Davis "Bud" and Lovie Slider Whytsell, moved to Spencer, attending high school there. "My art teacher French Jones, after looking at some of my work, would say I should be teaching the class," Whytsell said. Whytsell displays one of many paintings During Whytsell's life, being in the military and working for nearly 40 years, he started painting again. "I really have to be in the mood to do it," he said, saying he enjoys doing landscapes, using acrylic paint. Jane Whytsell displays basket weaving He and his wife, Jane Ellen Tatterson Whytsell, enjoy their life on Egypt Ridge, she also spends a considerable time weaving baskets. Whytsell's father, who died early, was the subject of a Sunny Cal Journal story on the Hur Herald a number of years ago. See SUNNY CAL JOURNAL - A Snowbound Thanksgiving Rescue WHYTSELL'S PRIMITIVE PAINTINGS

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