Lillian Perkins was selected to have her artwork exhibited at the local gallery. The Lampasas Art Club selected Lillian Perkins as its Artist of the Month for December.

Her artwork is on exhibit at the gallery at My Girls on East Third Street.

Mrs. Perkins was born and grew up on a farm in the Atherton Community in Lampasas County. She credits her grandfather, who was blind, with encouraging her to see and appreciate the beauty all around her.

At age 15, she met Leo Perkins. A year later, Mrs. Perkins attended Sul Ross College in Alpine while she worked at Marfa Army Air Base.

Meanwhile, Perkins entered the Army Air Corps during World War II. He returned home after being held in a prisoner of war camp after his plane was shot down while flying missions over Europe.

The couple married in 1945, five years after they first met.

The Perkinses lived in Mexico, New Mexico and El Paso before moving back to Lampasas with their three children and four great-grandchildren.

While in El Paso, Mrs. Perkins was a high school teacher for 32 years.

In 1982, Mrs. Perkins and a daughter, Sharon, took an oil painting class taught by Ray Lopez Aleman.

Mrs. Perkins' first painting hangs in her workshop today. She credits friends Margarett Pence and Bill Bissell for giving her direction in her early days of painting.

The art gallery is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.