Best birthday wishes to Winslow Homer. Homer had a twenty-year career as the preeminent American illustrator before committing himself to oils and becoming celebrated for his paintings of rural America. His move to Prout's Neck, Maine in 1893 reignited his love of the sea and trout fishing streams. In his later years Homer divided his time between the Bahamas and Maine. Homer's mature oil paintings include some of the first works of genius by an American artist, and as a watercolorist he has never been surpassed.