Don Gilmer grew up in Alabama and graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Engineering with additional work on MBA from University of West Florida.  He spent 39 years in industry in various technical and management positions.  Included in this was a significant amount of international travel which heightened his interest and appreciation of architectural structures and art.  This interest, along with his technical and farm background, is reflected in his realistic style of painting buildings, structures, landscapes and seascapes.                 

In 1998, Gilmer retired from Hoechst-Celanese and divided his time between painting and golf.  As time passed he became serious about painting, taking numerous locally taught watercolor classes and then workshops conducted by nationally known watercolorists.  He selected watercolor as his preferred painting medium because of its bright and transparent colors.  He finds that painting satisfies a creative need that he successfully used in his early engineering  years.  Now my time painting passes by so rapidly that I cannot believe that I have been at the painting table for hours.  With his wife Nan, they enjoy traveling to historical areas where they learn the details of local histories and also make photos and sketches for future paintings.