"Bluebonnets"

  • Biography

    Royce Roberts (1928-2016)

    Royce was born in Hope, Arkansas. He joined the Navy when 17 and went to Houston, Texas when he was discharged. He worked on building houses in Pasadena, but bad weather caused him to quit and go to barber school. He married Barbara in 1950; they have a son and a daughter. When long hair came popular, he took his hobby to his shop and painted when he wasn't busy.

    A Houston T.V. show did a spot on him about his paintings. A gallery owner told him if he would hang up his scissors, he would buy all his paintings. His bluebonnet paintings sold faster than he could paint them.
     
    In 1977 he and his wife sold out in Houston and moved to a small ranch in Burnet, Texas known as the bluebonnet capital of Texas.
     
    He built his studio in the barn and raised angora goats for a few years.
     
    He lived out his life in the landscape that he loved, and died with his boots on, in his pasture under a grove of trees.