"But also in that moment of research I realized there was this big thing going on in New York about watercolors and that Abbey was actually vaulted into stardom because of his watercolors," she said. "They were the thing people loved. They got him his big reputation. That's the moment I went, 'Whoa. Something's going on here. People are so excited about watercolor around the early 1880s. What is happening?' "