Trying to write a profile of artist Bob Timberlake is like trying to hunt your favorite 1,000-acre bird habitat in half an hour. Your mind can wrap around the breadth of it, but physically it can’t be done. How to give justice to someone who has been honored at the White House and Buckingham Palace, received the Albert Schweitzer Medal for Artistry, has a stretch of I-85 named in his honor, and has released 9 books and 4 U.S. postal stamps?

Venues such as Hammer Galleries in New York, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Isetan Gallery in Tokyo, Japan have featured Bob’s paintings. His history of exhibitions within his home state of North Carolina is a story of its own, starting at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and including the North Carolina Museum of Art and the North Carolina Museum of History. Bob’s paintings also have shown several times with those of his mentor, Andrew Wyeth.