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Professor Walmsley’s teaching views are firm. If you listen to him for very long, it is clear that the things he most admires are actually the philosophies he himself has followed. One of the greatest compliments he ever paid any teacher was to John Varley, a British watercolorist (1778-1842). About ten years ago, Bill began to collect watercolors and drawings in addition to prints. Discoursing on the skill of 18th and 19th century painters, he mentioned Varley. “Varley was a good artist—all his students were good painters. And all of them were different. You look at Cotman [John Sell Cotman, 1782-1842] and his students—they did everything just the way Cotman wanted them to, maybe they had to, but Varley?—he brought out the best in each of them. He directed them to whatever they did well.”