Step into Art Tyndall’s art studio and it’s like stepping back in time. There’s no running water, no heat, no air conditioning. But there is light — lots of light, pouring through a large display window and the four transom windows above. When Tyndall isn’t out painting local scenes, he can be found here, tucked into his Water Street studio, surrounded by his work that, too, evokes both the past and the familiar.

“A lot of my stuff is local stuff — you can look at it and know where it comes from,” Tyndall said.

Paintings of Washington and Washington Park waterfronts, points of interest in Bath and Swan Quarter and eastern North Carolina landmarks recognizable by locals — Bill’s Hot Dogs, the Dairy Palace, among them — line the beadboard walls of the studio.

“I’d rather paint outside than paint in here, but you’ve got to have a place to keep all this stuff,” he laughed. “The older I get, the more I paint inside.”

Art came to Tyndall later on in life. He was 50 years old before he picked up a paintbrush, but a background in drafting paved the way for the next 25 years of painting. Initially, Tyndall was still working fulltime, so he painted when he could find time, but retirement from Crisp RV in 2005 opened up a new path, and he opened up his Water Street studio. Now he paints a little bit every day, he said.

On average, Tyndall sells six to eight oil paintings a month, preferring to work in oil, because there’s much more time to work with the medium, as opposed to fast-drying acrylics. Many of his sales come from waterfront Washington visitors who stop at the studio to look around and end up purchasing a piece of original art — landscapes, lighthouses, marshes, old cars and trucks — little colorful pieces of “Down East” attitude to take home.

“I get a lot of traffic, particularly if something is going on down here. Festival Park has really helped that out,” Tyndall said, adding that at a Cycle NC weekend several years ago, he had his best day ever, selling seven paintings in a single afternoon.

But for Tyndall, art isn’t about selling — it’s about getting out in nature and recreating the beauty of eastern North Carolina, or taking a photograph from long ago and bringing it to life, full-color.

“It’s never been a big money-making deal,” Tyndall said. “It’s just something I love to do.”

Art Tyndall Studio is located at 110 E. Water St., Washington. For more information, call 252-943-8573, email arttyndallstudio@gmail.com or visit arttyndallstudio.net.