Porfirio Salinas (November 6, 1910 – April 18, 1973) was an early Texas landscape painter who is recognized for his depictions of the Texas Hill Country in the springtime. He was one of the first Mexican American artists to become nationally recognized for his paintings. He was described by The New York Times as being United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's favorite painter. Works by Salinas are displayed in the Texas State Capitol, the Texas Governor's Mansion and in a number of museums including the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Early history Salinas was born on November 6, 1910, near Bastrop, Texas. He came from a family of Mexican American tenant farmers, his father Porfirio G. Salinas and his mother Clara G. Chavez Salinas leaving the farm for San Antonio when Porfirio was a child. Salinas was a precocious talent who drew and painted from the time he was a small boy and received encouragement from his teachers. He had little formal education and left school when he was young in order to work in an art supply store. When he was fifteen he met the English-born landscape artist Robert William Wood (1889–1979) at the store. Salinas went to work in Wood's studio in 1925, where he learned the basics of being a professional painter. He stretched Wood's canvasses, and learned to frame paintings, how to mix paints and how to prepare canvas under Wood's supervision. Wood was a very capable businessman, and Salinas learned how to sell and market his art from the English painter. Salinas accompanied Wood and the Spanish-born artist and teacher José Arpa (1858–1952) on sketching trips to the hills and valleys surrounding San Antonio where they painted blooming wildflowers in the spring and the Texas Red Oak in the fall. With his talent and hard work he was soon capable of professional work. Professional career Salinas began painting professionally in 1930, when he was twenty years old. His early work was influenced by his mentor Robert Wood's paintings. He painted many scenes of Texas bluebonnets, the state flower, which were sold to tourists by the artists and galleries in San Antonio, Texas. In 1939 he began working with the art dealer Dewey Bradford (1896–1985), who sold paintings, frames and art supplies in the state capital of Austin. National recognition While Salinas sold his work steadily, by 1960 he was