ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Tony Rosa, who is semi-retired, began to paint five years ago to pass the time and it quickly became a passion of his.

Through his art, he was finally able to fulfill a passion project.

“I’ve had wanted to tell, the story of the workers in the Grove and how they’re out there year-round and how they don’t get paid if they don’t work,” Rosa said.

He would always see them work from his window.

“(In 2019) I found a crew and got to spend a little time knowing what kind of picture wanting to get,” he said. “(I) took a bunch of pictures while I was there and when I got home I realized ‘Wow, there’s a lot here to do.’”

For weeks, he would paint the fieldworkers he took photos of. Throughout that time he would see them continue to work even during the height of the pandemic.

“The pretty impressive thing about these guys is their willingness to work through all kinds of conditions,” he said.

Fieldworkers are considered essential workers and would work long hours even during the peak of the global pandemic.

Purdue University reports there have been more than 930,000 coronavirus cases among fieldworkers, 36,000 of them were in Florida.

“They were very welcoming to me,” he said. “(It’s) inspiring to me, they’re all from all ages, old to young, and they’re hard all hard workers. I respect them so much.”

His exhibit American Pickers is on display all November at the Atrium Gallery inside the Orange County Administration Building.