Fauquier designer changed the look of National Geographic

Following his retirement in 1990, one of Paine's many continuing layout ventures is to oversee the design of U.S. postage stamps. He chooses and coaches the artists, some of whom he first admired when he cut out their paintings some decades ago.

I asked Paine about his artistic credo. "Learning by the baleen method," he said. "The baleen whale will gulp a huge amount of ocean and squirt it all out except for the shrimp and morsels to eat. I take in everything and then spit out what I don't want."

Cathy Hunter, archivist of the National Geographic Society, provided information for this report.

Eugene Scheel is a historian and mapmaker who lives in Waterford.