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Painting from life brings me joy and continual inspiration, whether I am painting outdoors or in my studio. Being outdoors as a part of the landscape while painting feeds my soul and gives my work a quality that can’t be obtained any other way. The sounds, scents, weather, and ever-changing light encountered firsthand outdoors affect my use of color as well as my brush as I paint a moment in time. I find that even when working in the studio, reference materials that I have gathered outdoors (photos, sketches, and color studies) are primary sources of remembrance and feeling that translate into my art. These captured moments in time cause me to stop and remember the elements of that scene that brought me such inspiration: the colors, light, and weather. Light is the element that inspires me the most. The more I paint the more I realize that it is the most important facet of my work. My paintings bring joy to me, as well as hopefully invoking those same feelings to the viewer. They are windows opening back to a fleeting moment. They are a visual record of that place in time.
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