Artist Statement: I live in an area of great natural beauty. The landscape of Southwest Wisconsin, an un-glaciated pocket of terrain which includes rolling hills, farmland and the Mississippi River, and its bluffs inspired a series of oil paintings about the coulee region. These landscape paintings include views in all seasons with their changing light and atmospheric perspective. My goal is to capture the life force and mood that is the essence of a place. Many of these paintings are based on locations that are the views that I see as I walk on the 80 acres of land that surround my Wisconsin home. It is full of family history as we are the third generation of family to reside here. This land speaks of the past with its old barns, sheds, farmhouses, ridges and river views. I hope to express some of this connection in my paintings of this land.
Painting on location is ideal because it allows for the best possible conditions to capture the essence of a scene. I want to keep a fresh response of a place so I begin with smaller studies in Plein aire. I return to my studio with these studies and photos to work on a larger painting (16x20 or 18x24)trying not to lose the original freshness of a place or what called me to paint the spot in the first place. I believe this is the truth of a painting and I keep this connection throughout. I use the language of emotive color, light, curvilinear lines and thicker paint to interpret the expressive vision of the land.
I maintain a truthfulness in these oil landscape paintings of the coulee region beyond a photo realistic approach. The paintings are simply based on my love of nature and the tie to the land that surrounds me. This local landscape is a natural place touched by beauty and a personal family history which resonates with me.