The artist:

Lois Marilyn Ostapczuk

Feb. 10^th, 1948 – March 2^nd, 2023

Lois was born in Newark, New Jersey to Robert and Doris Koch, the fifth of six children.  She grew up in Union with her three brothers and two sisters.  Lois went on to graduate from Union High School in 1966 afterwards earning a 1970 BA in General Elementary Education at Kean University.  Later in life she earned her MS in Elementary Education at SUNY New Paltz.

Lois married her husband, Ed, in May of 1970 after which they relocated to the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York state.  While he initially worked at IBM, Lois taught second grade in the Marlboro School District.  In 1973 they relocated to Shokan, residing there since, where Lois soon gave birth to the first of four children, putting her teaching career on hold while raising the family.

 As their children grew through their teen years Lois re-entered the teaching profession, directing and teaching the Overlook Preschool for a short period plus substitute teaching before joining the Onteora School District as a first-grade teacher.  In 2008 she retired from teaching rekindling friendships while becoming an active community volunteer and cultivating various hobbies.  She enjoyed quilting, hiking, volunteerism, and landscape painting.  Her artwork was often donated to various community fundraising events. 

While teaching Lois received the NYS Jenkins Award becoming an honorary life-time PTA member and was also nominated to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.  As a volunteer, in her younger years she was active in local PTA’s and with the Town of Olive’s Recreation Committee, for which she was also recognized.  In later years she was active with Vision 2000 and volunteered/coordinated the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen at Christ’s Lutheran Church, where she also served on the Church Council and taught Sunday school.

Other than her family, friends, and helping others, Lois life’s passion was landscape painting.  She was an active member of the Olive Senior Art Group.  While Lois was mostly self-taught, she also received help from group members, as well as enjoyed several classes with local artists.  Much of her art is shown within the blog below.

Lois was survived by her husband of fifty-three years and all four of their children including ten grandchildren.  She was also survived by her three brothers and two sisters/their families as well as two sisters-in-law’s/their families including seventeen nieces and nephews, and several great nieces and nephews in all.

In November of 2021 Lois was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer.  Though the odds were stacked against her from the beginning, she fought with all her efforts and grace.  Her cheerful and kind presence will be greatly missed, while all who knew Lois are grateful for our time with her.  The family is forever beholden to the caring and dedicated personnel at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Hudson Valley Hospice.  

My bride:

The last Christmas card (2023):  In late 2022 just a few short weeks before Lois entered Hospice care, she was still actively painting watercolors.  Doing so gave her great purpose and joy.  One day she completed a winter scene, reflective of the season we were in.  Lois showed this to our oldest daughter Jennifer, who quickly suggested that her mother add a Christmas wreath to the barn.  Delighted with that suggestion, Lois joyfully did so, proclaiming that this watercolor image would make our 2023 Christmas card.  

And so it happened; friends and family received Lois’s Merry Christmas.  As for the original watercolor itself, Jennifer claimed it as her own and it now hangs in her Ballston Spa, New York home.

Merry Christmas from Heaven, Lois.

The last Christmas card: 

Flugertown:  We relocated to New York shortly after we married in 1970.  My husband used the excuse of new careers for both of us, which was true, but we did leave job opportunities back in New Jersey.  Actually, it was a Charmed Circle article in some outdoor magazine that drew us to the Catskills. 

Ed is the angler in our relationship and he is forever roaming new waters.  He tells me that his “first Catskill love” was the Willowemoc; little did I know.  So when he asked me to paint a primitive scene found in the Willowemoc Wild Forest, hidden along Flugertown Road, I wasn’t totally surprised.

This task was a bit of a challenge, as my hands have become increasing unsteady as I battle my illness;  but perhaps that enhanced the looseness of this watercolor.

This watercolor appeared in the March 2023 issue of the Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Lois completed this watercolor on February 3rd, 2023, later that evening she entered Kingston Hospital for her illness.  Two days later she was discharged into home Hospice care.  She passed peacefully at home on March 2nd; this was the last watercolor she ever painted.

Flugertown (NFS):

Cancer:  In November of 2021 Lois was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer.  With caring medical support from Memorial Sloan Kettering physicians, nurses, and great staff, she battled this disease for almost one-and-a-half years before succumbing to a predetermined outcome.   If only the world was full of  people like MSK employees, our planet would be a much better place to live.

Throughout Lois ordeal and treatments, she found great pleasure in family, friends, and painting.  She especially watched numerous landscape painting YouTubes instructing one how to become a better artist.  These occupied her mind while improving her brush strokes.  She continued to paint even up until the very day she entered the hospital only to return home as a Hospice patient.  That morning she finished the "Flugertown" watercolor I had requested.

Towards the end of her life Lois wasn't always capable of signing her work with a full signature and sometimes she would only use her initials "LO".  But she never gave up; she always thought of others, putting them ahead of herself; that's the person she always was.

Words below reflect both those of Lois and her husband.

Oakwood Drive:  Somewhere in Mohonk Preserve, not far from Duck Pond, there’s a large rock we’d sit upon to rest before continuing our trek.  These trees along Oakwood Drive, in their autumn splendor, caught my fancy so I had to paint this watercolor.

 

Along the Rail Trail:  New York City’s Ashokan Reservoir along the Rail Tail, not far from the Boiceville terminus. 

The tailout:  A tailout is the downstream end of a run or pool where water depth shallows while flow speeds increase before dropping into the next stretch.  This one is located at the bottom of Esopus Creek’s Trestle Pool well within eyesight of the Ashokan Rail Trail footbridge, where a railroad trestle once stood.

 

Stone House:  The Stone House serves as the clubhouse for the Wintoon Fly Fishing Club.  I asked Lois to paint this watercolor to serve as a possible book cover dealing with the history of these historic Catskill trout waters.

The Rise:  Based upon one of his photographs, my husband challenged me to paint a watercolor of a rising trout.  His photo depicted the head of a brook trout, with his fly rod on the far bank behind it while sunlight distorted the color of the fish and water holding it.  A challenge it was.

Using artistic license, the fly rod was eliminated from the painting while Ed tried to describe how the trout should appear.  However, left to my own imagination for the most part I proceeded to fabricate colors depicting the water and landscape design.  Following two attempts at this watercolor, readers now see the final result.  This watercolor appeared in the May 2022 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Between September of 2020 through March of 2023, the month Lois passed away, the Guild's Gazette newsletter included fifteen of her watercolors.  Only in January of 2022, after Lois started her first treatment of chemotherapy was she unable to supply a piece of artwork for publication.  However, in January of 2024 ten months after Lois had passed, the Gazette included one final landscape, one of her last and one of her best--- "The last Christmas card."

The unfinished:  The pronoun "me" was not part of Lois' vocabulary.  Pronouns like "you" and "we" were when it came to discussions with each other.  Very often Lois asked me to provide feedback on her artwork, critique it from a non-artist's point of view.  Almost always I sought her feedback on things I wrote, valuing her critical eye.  We just supported each other, caused that's what we did.

There's a favorite section of the East Branch Neversink, on Frost Valley YMCA property, immediately upstream of the New Road Hill Bridge.  I fish it often, it holds special meaning to me.  Thus I asked Lois to paint a watercolor of that section for me.  She did, but we could never quite agree upon her final efforts.  Thus it's called "The Unfinished", hoping when we meet again we can finally agree upon this landscape.

The Unfinished:

 

Esopus Creek Silver Bullet:  My husband, Ed, prides himself on the underwater photographs he frequently takes of trout that he’s caught. Frequently, I’ve utilized these photos for paintings, as they make interesting subject matter. I know enough about trout to distinguish a brook from a brown from a rainbow. And I know that Ed often affectionately refers to wild Esopus Creek rainbows as “silver bullets,” but I didn’t fully understand his lack of underwater photographs of these fish. The vast majority of his underwater photos are of brook and brown trout, and I’ve now learned that wild rainbows won’t remain still long enough for him to capture a digital image. Well, he finally convinced me to do a watercolor of a large Esopus rainbow lying in the gravel next to a prized bamboo rod, just before the fish’s release. To complete this task, I purchased silver watercolor paint—a new color for me to try. Shadows add to the composition of the painting. I submitted the Esopus Creek Silver Bullet to a local juried art show titled “Fresh Air,” and it was accepted.  It also appeared on the July 2022 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Esopus Creek Silver Bullet (NFC):

 

Mother’s Pool winter:  Often when we travel from Phoenicia to Mount Tremper my husband will utilize Old Route 28/Plank Road along his Esopus Creek.  And, just as often when we pass Mother’s Pool, he’ll point it out to me saying, “That’s a famous Esopus Creek pool, but I rarely ever catch a fish there.”

Recently he asked me to paint a watercolor of Mother’s Pool, as it lay asleep in winter.  Given the wintery landscape, I was able to do this painting without using white gouache, but instead left areas of the watercolor paper untouched representing snow.  In addition, the sky was kept dull, with a hint of a glow, for a more wintery appearance.  Maybe someday my husband will catch a trout there, while thinking of this painting.

This watercolor appeared in the January 2023 issue of the Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Mother's Pool winter (NFS):

 Wittenberg:  Recently I was asked to do a watercolor of the former home of Ken and Kathy Baum, very dear friends of ours.  As Oliver Wendell Holmes noted, "Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave but not our hearts."  This special place is nestled in the Catskills, in the shadows of Roundtop Mountain and not from from Kenneth Wilson State Park.

Wittenberg (SOLD): 

Traver Hollow:  Noted angling/author Nick Lyons once wrote about favorite small waters he loved to fish, something along the lines of, "... you know them like the freckles on the back of your hand."  Well my husband loves to wander Traver Hollow, a small Ashokan Reservoir tributary that drains a mountain hollow.  Though its wild trout typically run small, its in this environ he's able to re-center himself while searching for all those freckles.

Autumn Traver Hollow (SOLD):

By the way, a discerning eye might find a couple heart-shaped images within this landscape, symbolic of the angler's affection of this hollow.

Eagleville Covered Bridge:  Is there any structure that’s a more iconic symbol of New England, and the northeast, than a covered bridge?  Recently our oldest son purchased a house along the Battenkill, a few minutes from the New York/Vermont border.  Like his father, Rob is a flyfisher, now feverishly working to make his newly acquired house the home of his dreams.  The Battenkill--- a noted trout stream, home to the likes of Lee Wulff, John Atherton, Lew Oatman, and many others--- borders his property. 

Also within easy walking distance of his place is the Eagleville Covered Bridge, which crosses the Battenkill in Eagleville, NY Washington County.  This covered bridge was originally built in 1858 by Ephraim W. Clapp and is included in the National Register of Historic Places.  I painted two watercolors as house warming gifts for Rob as it gives me great pleasure painting for someone I love.

The top watercolor appeared in the November 2022 issue of the Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Eagleville Covered Bridge (NFS):

Covered bridge (NFS):

Neversink River:  There are very few places that my husband enjoys more, as he whiles away time, than flyfishing the upper Neversink.

As I’ve acknowledged before, many of my paintings are done from photographs my husband takes while fishing or hiking.  Recently he shared a photo with me of a meadow of wild flowers, captured along the West Branch of the Neversink in a section known as Jones Flat at Wintoon.  What caught my eye first was the light on the “S” shape of the river.  I didn’t change much, except perhaps adding a few more purple flowers endeavoring to make the foreground a lovely feature of this painting.

This watercolor was utilized in the September 2022 issue of the Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild.

Meadow waters – Jones Flat (NFS):

Autumn on the upper Neversink's twin sister, the East Branch.

Autumn East Branch Neversink:

 

Homes:  As the axiom goes, "there's no place like home."  I painted the top watercolor for my sister-in-law, the other two were self-inspired after viewing various YouTube art videos.

Home (SOLD):

Farm house:

Below, perhaps is a scene stolen from the lyrics of John Denver's ballad, "Take me home, country roads..."

Country road:

The mighty Ashokan:  New York City's mighty Ashokan Reservoir came online in 1915.  It is the second largest of all NYC Catskill water supplies, consisting of 8315 acres that feed thirsty New Yorkers and other folks along its journey through the Catskill adequate.  It's home to bald eagles, numerous fish species, and many walkers who enjoy reservoir views.

I painted the two watercolors below for friends of mine.

Ashokan Reservoir Promenade East (SOLD):

Ashokan sunrise (SOLD):

Bergman's brook trout:  I truly dislike painting reproduction pieces of other people's work, but my husband pleaded with me to do a watercolor of a famous, and favorite, image of his.  The original painting, titled The Male Eastern Brook Trout, graced the cover of Ray Bergman's book--- Trout, and was painted by noted artist/author/angler William J. Schaldach.

Bergman (NFS):

 

Mountains --- daughters and granddaughters: 

This summer past, our oldest daughter and her second oldest son, took a trip to Germany, the native country of this artist.  Along their journey they visited Neuschwanstein Castle, a 19^th century Bavarian fortress, high in German mountains, commissioned by King Ludwig II.  The watercolor below depicts a view from the back balcony into the German heartland.

 Neuschwanstein (NFS):

Our oldest granddaughter took a scenic trek up Big Slide, a prominent Adirondack dome of 4240 feet elevation in the High Peaks Region.  It takes energy to get there, but worth the effort.

 Big Slide (NFS):

 

Family:  As Wanda Hope Carter noted, "Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches."  Below are different watercolors of various family members.

Perhaps there's nothing as relaxing as taking a dog for a stroll in the Groton Town Forest.

Groton Town Forest and grandchildren (NFS):

As author/angler Ray Bergman noted in Just Fishing, "Just Fishing!  All life is that to some extent.  If we are not fishing for one thing it is another."

A father and son fishing (NFS):

As Lois Wye noted, "Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation."

Grandson shadows (NFS):

Mohonk:  The Mohonk summerhouse, which reportedly is the official logo of the Mohonk Mountain House.  It's been said that at one time 155 summerhouses could be found on the property.

Mohonk summerhouse (Sold):

MSK:  On my journey battling cancer I’ve met some wonderful people who work at Memorial Sloan Kettering, people who see their efforts helping others like me as much more than a job.  One such delightful young lady visits me regularly, checking on my needs, every time I’m there for treatment.  We got to discussing my love of landscape watercolors, so I did the painting below for her.  I call it MSK, but it’s really a pleasant viewpoint from the Ashokan Rail Trail overlooking the reservoir, not far from the Boiceville terminus.  A vision of hope for those in search of better days yet to come.

MSK (NFS):

 The cabin:  Last November I was commissioned by Peter Leitner--- a Catskill Fly Tyers Guild member and active participant at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum--- to do a landscape of a cabin that had ties to his family, and Catskill flyfishers alike.  About the same time, I learned I had cancer, changing my life on a dime.  While undergoing treatment, I was finally able to paint again, something I truly enjoy, painting the landscape below. Its background history was first told to readers of the March 2022 Gazette, newsletter of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild, and now is retold below for readers of this blog.

Pete and his family have deep Catskill fly-fishing roots, embedded along Willowemoc Creek.  Pete’s grandfather, Bert Leitner was a member of the Beaverkill Trout Club prior to 1959. In the 1920’s, he purchased property in DeBruce along the Willowemoc next to Charlie Ward that included  Anvil Rock and Sheeleys’. Then in 1959, he along with the late Bucky Sterns’ older brother Dick, and other anglers from Rockland County, started the DeBruce Fly Fishing Club (DFFC.)

In the early 50’s, Bert sold his original Willowemoc holding, which eventually became part of the DFFC water, and purchased a cabin on the south side of Willowemoc Creek at the Conklin Hill Bridge --- Bendo Covered Bridge.  Pete’s grandfather owned the cabin until 1968 when he passed. Recent investigation, plus input from one of the Catskill “old-timers”, suggest that Roy Steenrod at least stayed at the cabin while teaching fly tying at DEC’s Camp DeBruce conservation camp. It is not known yet whether Roy in-fact owned the cabin and sold it to Bert. That is what a recent tip to Pete indicates. A future visit to the county land records is planned this spring to confirm, or deny that information.

 At age five in 1962, Pete recalls catching his first trout under the Bendo Covered Bridge.  And he informed readers that the previous owner (Steenrod’s?) called their cabin “Cliff Dale”, while his grandfather renamed it the “Royal Coachman” in ’52 when he bought it. On the property there was a little spring fed pond along the cabin where sometimes a few DFFC hatchery brown trout found their way until being released into the Willowemoc early autumn.

 New York State eventually acquired this parcel, assimilating the property into their Forest Preserve. Then the historic cabin was in complete disrepair as it painfully sank into the ground.

The cabin (sold):

 The Abutments:  I was happy when my husband asked me to do a landscape watercolor for a book he’s working on.  He provided a photo of old bridge abutments, once found on the East Branch Neversink, across from the Frost Valley YMCA farm along Denning Road.  Climate change and high water has destroyed these; sadly, only rocky remnants remain.

I sat in front of this with brush in hand for three hours, as I wanted my efforts to be loose and artsy, but still recognizable.  It was completed in one sitting with a few tweaks here and there.

The Abutments (NFS):

My husband's book, The Wanderings of a Mountain Fly Fisher: Tales from a Catskill Eddy and Other Trout Waters, was published by Epigraph Books in early 2022.