About The Artist
Grandpa Otto
Grandma Moses was a famous American artist who started her career at the age of 79. Coincidentally, Wayne (Grandpa) Otto also started painting at the age of 79 in the year 2025.
He started life as a military brat, living all over the United States and the world. His flair for the arts began at the age of twelve, while living in Japan. His mother taught him to sew hand puppets, and suddenly he was putting on puppet shows in his back yard, much to the delight of both Japanese and American neighborhood kids.
This love of entertaining continued for the rest of his life as an actor and director of community theatre all over the country. He has since performed in or directed over 100 shows .
His job life has been incredibly eclectic. After graduating from the University of South Florida in Tampa, he became a teacher. His first job in 1968 (before racial integration), was at an all black high school in Belle Glade, Florida. The following year, he was drafted into the military, where, instead of a soldier, the Army also made him a teacher. Following the army, he completed graduate studies at the University of Florida and began a career as a nuclear engineer, a job which again allowed him to travel all around the country.
All of that and an entrepreneur, too! Grandpa Otto has owned and operated a dozen businesses including a Domino’s Pizza, a Cajun restaurant, a custom door shop, a hardware store, mobile home sales and a hot dog cart.
In 2025, Otto gave his fiancée one of those evenings out where you drink wine and paint. She enjoyed it so much, she began to paint at home. Otto watched her for awhile, then said to himself, “I wonder if I could do that?” Living in Lakeland, Florida, he decided to visit one of the many beautiful lakes in the city and take photographs of the landscapes and waterfowl.
His first piece, a graphite drawing with watercolor was a pelican standing next to a magnificent cypress
tree. “Pelly—Lake Morton”.
He was off!
His goal is to become the next Grandma Moses: a famous artist who painted until she at the age of 101. Grandpa Otto is shooting for 102!!