Robert E. Wood, N.A. (1926-1999) Robert E. Wood grew up in Southern California. Just after World War II, he began seriously studying watercolor painting and was influenced by Rex Brandt and Phil Dike. By the late 1940s, he was in a graduate program and already exhibiting watercolors in museum and gallery shows. His works from this period often depict regional subjects found near Claremont, where he was attending college, and harbor subjects near Corona del Mar and Newport Beach.