Francis H. Cutting's paintings will be on display at Ainsley House:

Francis H. Cutting was at one time a teacher who didn't want to teach and an owner of a 5-acre prune orchard who didn't want to farm. Cutting wanted to paint. And he did. Some of his work is on display at the city of Campbell's Ainsley House as part of an exhibit that runs until June 30. The Iowa-born Cutting was an on-and-off-and-on-again Campbell resident who became well known for his landscape oil paintings in the early 1900s.

"So much of the West has changed since Cutting was painting, but there are still many areas where we can see unspoiled landscapes, the same one Cutting captured in his paintings," said Kerry Perkins, Campbell Historical Museum and Ainsley House educator.

Francis H. Cutting's paintin works allow us to slow down, put down our smartphones, quiet the noise of everyday life, and appreciate the natural beauty of these areas," Perkins said. "People hopefully will get a sense of the past but also what still surrounds them if only they take the time to look."

Francis H. Cutting was 20 years old when his family moved from Iowa to California in 1893. He graduated from State Normal College, now known as San Jose State University, four years later and moved to Paso Robles to teach, says Jeanette Watson in Campbell, the Orchard City.

He didn't take a liking to teaching and moved back to Campbell and bought a 5-acre orchard. But Cutting's passion was landscape painting, and he had a wall in his room covered with them, the book says.

He became a "special art student" at the College of the Pacific, where he paid 50 cents a lesson from a Miss Booth, Watson writes. In 1917, Cutting received an inheritance from an uncle and devoted his full time to painting. Although he dabbled with watercolors, his true passion was oil painting.

Francis H. Cutting would move to Pacific Grove a few years later with his wife, Clara Snavely, and their two sons. But the family eventually returned to Campbell and built a home and studio on Harrison Avenue between present-day Civic Center Drive and Grant Avenue.

Before his death in 1964 at age 91, Cutting had painted numerous landscapes of the West Coast. He painted a panorama of the West, travelling from Southern California up to Washington.

Francis H. Cutting was an important artist from the California Impressionist school of painting who helped bring about modern landscape painting, Perkins said.

"Francis H. Cutting considered himself in harmony with the moods of nature, and he found inspiration in the ever-changing landscape," she said. "We hope that people will appreciate how Cutting used a bright palette to capture what he sensed were the moods of nature: the radiance of a sunset, the vivid bloom of plant life or the light and shadows in forest retreats."

But the exhibit isn't just about the paintings. It's also about the artist.The exhibit includes Cutting's artist tools, supplies and some of his personal effects."We want to give visitors a sense of Cutting the artist, the person, the Campbell resident," Perkins said. "By exhibiting these items, you can get the feel of him sitting in his artist's folding chair or sketching what inspired him. We can see how he kept his art supplies and Cutting becomes real to us, a three-dimensional person."

The exhibit runs until June 30 at the Ainsley House, 300 Grant St. Viewing the exhibit is free with admission into the Ainsley House. Admission costs $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2.50 for 7- to 17-year-olds. Children age 6 and younger are free. Public tours are offered every Thursday-Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

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