Uncle Freddy's Gallery in Highland is hosting an open house exhibition featuring 20 years of watercolor landscapes by resident artist Tom Torluemke.

Over the years, in between his normal avant-garde work, public commissions and major bodies of work, Torluemke has painted hundreds of landscapes in various locales including Chicago's Grant Park, Colorado, North Carolina, Canada and the closer-to-home sites such as Dowling Park, Gibson Woods, Oxbow Park and Wicker Park.

"I paint them, because I have lots of fun painting them," Torluemke said.

"They're very relaxing. It's a way for me to sort of stay in touch with nature and just things that are going on around me."

All the paintings were done on-site, usually within a period of one to five hours, sometimes a couple per day. Often, Torluemke would travel to a destination, like Alberta, Canada, ("where I climbed a mountain") with an intention to paint.

"I don't really look for something special to paint," he said.

"I kind of look for something that's quiet and unassuming, that maybe people wouldn't necessarily think as picturesque."

Said Uncle Freddy's Gallery Director Linda Dorman: "If people enjoy landscapes, this will be a great opportunity to see the wide range of Tom's talents -- and also a great opportunity to purchase an original Torluemke painting."

Visitors to the gallery also will be able to see up-to-date progress on Torluemke's most recent project, an 8-foot-by-130-foot mural for the Indianapolis Public Library, to be installed later this fall.

The story of the mural comes from the 1918 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Magnificent Ambersons" by Indianapolis native Booth Tarkington. The book later was adapted into a film by Orson Welles. The story revolves around a family who came to prominence during the industrial revolution in a Midwest city (inspired by Tarkington's Indianapolis). Greed led to the Ambersons' downfall, but they eventually "climbed back up" with even stronger morals.

"We wanted to do something that would resonate with the people of Indianapolis," Torluemke said.

"I used the story to chronicle development of Indianapolis but then also of us as human beings."

Assisting Torluemke with the mural, which will be placed in the library's special collections room, is Jim McKern, an artist in his own right.