( I I » fCollection of paintings historic and fascinating By Luke Hendry THE INTELLIGENCER DEMORESTVILLE - - At a distance, they look like small, colourful coasters. But to John and Diane Brisley, the paintings of Lavonia Stockelbach are collector's items and a fas- cinating piece of Belleville's art history. In 1980, the Brisleys moved to Napanee from Peterborough. Both were avid collec- tors of ant iques , and throughout his life, John was also interested in birds. At an auction that year, he spotted a series of small paintings of birds and flowers by Lavonia Stock- elbach, a late Belleville artist. Most were painted on 4-by-5-inch wafers of wood between about 1928 and 1963, yet the colours remained brilliant. The auction was to liq- uidate the estate of the artist's niece. "I just liked what I saw, basically," he said, explain- ing the paintings combined his loves of antiques and birds. • See 'Art' on page 4. INTELLIGENCER PHOTO BY LUKE HENDRY Diane and John Brisley of Demorestville sort through their collection of books and paintings.