Marty Hartman, founder of the Petticoat Painters, sums up the art scene for women in the early 1950's. 'It's a boy's world, a boy's world.' Sarasota, Florida was a Mecca for male artists in the 1950's. Women artists weren't taken seriously and couldn't get gallery representation. In 1953, Marty gathered seven professional women painters for a show in the Hartman gallery. They named themselves 'The Petticoat Painters', as a joke. Their show was a huge success. The name stuck. Sixty plus years later the Petticoat Painters are the longest continuously showing group of women artists in the United States. Membership is by invitation only. The current group has twenty professional painters. Each has her own style, artistic vocabulary, and saga. This is their story.