Stephen Wiltse was drawing and painting almost before he could walk and talk. By the age of five he could draw recognizable cartoon characters. An early teacher was taken aback when she discovered he could draw in perspective at a much earlier age than was expected. Encouraged by his father, a professor at the University of California in Berkeley, he began selling his artwork while he was still a teenager. By the time he enrolled at San Jose State University in the early sixties, his paintings had already moved stylistically across the entire history of art, from realism through impressionism and expressionism, to total abstraction. He graduated from San Jose State with a degree in painting, and did graduate work at San Francisco State University. In 1969 Wiltse retreated to a rustic cabin beside a pond in the foothills of the Sierras. Surrounded by natural beauty, he began painting watercolors outdoors. This was the beginning of a lifelong passion for landscape painting. In the 1980s a gallery owner from Carmel saw his work and invited him to exhibit there. He currently shows his work with New Masters Gallery in Carmel, where he has continued to attract a devoted following. He recently began exhibiting at Panache Gallery in Mendocino, near where he lives with his wife, who is a weaver, and two cats. His paintings of local landscapes, particularly the coastal headlands, can be found in both Carmel and Mendocino.