Artist Disregards Condition, Paints Outdoor Scenes, Encourages Others to Follow Suit

WOODBINE – Carol Tomlin has the fortitude to consider what could be a devastating condition, multiple sclerosis (MS), and turn it into an inspiration by combining her passion for the outdoors with her artistic talent. 
In 2003, Tomlin’s mounting health problems, including loss of balance and short-term memory and the ability to hold and pick up objects, culminated in the MS diagnosis.
She was obliged to quit her job as a cook at a local center for developmentally challenged men after she almost fell head-first into a gargantuan kettle of steaming mashed potatoes.
Tomlin and her husband, Clarence, a commercial fisherman who died in 2013, resided on a 15-acre farm on Fremont Avenue in Woodbine for 40 years.
“We were 18 and 19 years old; we didn’t know what we were doing but loved this area. My sister would come from our home in Stone Harbor to ride horses, and I knew this farm was where I wanted to be,” she said.
Traversing the driveway to Tomlin’s house, the visitor is struck by the care and attention paid to all aspects of the property including the red barn footed in field stone, the numerous outbuildings that support the farm’s activities, and its beautiful meandering paths.
Tomlin said of her art studio, “This is where I come to find peace and focus.” She opened the door from an ample front porch with rocking chairs to a cathedral-ceiling wood-paneled sanctuary filled with partially finished canvases and art materials.
“I always liked to draw and in fact when I was very small I started on the walls of the house where we were living in Chadds Ford, Pa. Mommy, of course, was really angry, but I didn’t get punished because she thought what I had made was pretty good,” Tomlin chuckled.
“And then when I was a bit older I did a drawing of a squirrel for a school contest in Unionville, Pa. and lo and behold, one of the judges was Andrew Wyeth who presented me with the winner’s blue ribbon.
“In fact, Jamie Wyeth, his son, and my brother Kenny were best of friends,” she continued.
Tomlin went on to hone her painting skills especially of scenes out West, like the Old Faithful Inn (see photo based on the original design from 1904) in Montana, and of the outdoors where she and her husband spent extended periods of time together hunting.
“People at the inn even asked me to come out there to be the artist-in-residence but with two small boys I didn’t feel I could go,” she said.
Her work has been featured in an upcoming MS calendar; her work is paired with December, and the scene is deer in the snow. She has been the subject of some articles.
Despite some of the physical limitations she must deal with, albeit with great aplomb, Tomlin manages the farm with its six head of mixed Angus-Hereford cattle, pretty much by herself.
“My son lives nearby, and he comes over to help when there’s something really big. My best friend is John Deere since I rely on getting around with ‘his’ help,” said Tomlin again with a twinkle.
“I recently applied to the county for Open Space approval to hold this farm as deed-restricted in perpetuity so that it will never be developed. It’s such a special place and actually was part of the various farms owned by Baron De Hirsch, founder of Woodbine and was worked by former Russian serfs he was trying to help. I don’t really do social media, but I hope through my art and my farm I can encourage people to feel they can also fully live their lives and overcome, however possible, difficult circumstances.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.