“Landscapes” Artist’s Series Statement: I work impressionistically using acrylic paint with a palette knife and a silicone dotter for expressive mark-making. I also utilize a thinner viscosity of acrylic paint for whipping branches (via a string) onto the surface, which helps sink paint into the impasto that accrues in layering. I have spent most of my life in a rural setting, surrounded by woods, streams and fields on a dead-end road. Being surrounded by nature has definitely given me a heightened sense of paying attention to my surroundings... which only grew in the years I spent creating my landscapes via plein air painting. Being able to have the actual impression of what kind of plant or tree is represented is also very important to me. Not only does that make me feel a little like a visual historian of sorts but though a person might not know the name of a plant... their eyes process those shapes, colors etc. and that impression draws them into the scene. I often hear people talking about feeling as though they could walk right into the painting... and that drawing/immersive-feeling is just what I'm going for.