Belle Austin, (1880-1980), was born in Smith County, Texas. She was related to Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas. A child prodigy as an artist she was painting at age seven and as a teenager was selling her paintings. Her family wanted to provide a formal art training background for their daughter and sent her to New York to study with artist and teacher George Bridgman.

She attended the Art Students League in New York. After completing her training in New York she traveled to California training at the Stickney Memorial Art School located in Pasadena. After studying and painting in California she returned to Texas and opened a studio on Hemphill Street in Fort Worth where she specialized in Texas landscapes and sought commissi...