Robert Lewis was an outlier to Highwaymen painters. He had next to no exposure to the other painters. In 1958, his Cocoa Beach High School art teacher shared an article about the up and coming painter Harold Newton, whom he met a few years later. Robert was impressed, and was encouraged to study art education in college. This was followed by a short stint with Boing Company as an illustrator. Then began his 32-year career as a public school art teacher. Seeing the success of other black regional painters, he took their cue and painted and sold, though he had little to do with them socially. Since he had art instruction, his own creations differed from the shared aesthetic; perhaps it’s fairer to say that his further expanded it. His paintings were more stylized than theirs.