Why do I go OUT to paint?

I go out to paint because nature is my studio and my classroom. In motion - in stillness - in sound - in silence. The sound of a leaf falling from a rust-colored tree and landing on a bed of dry leaves. The tustle of a creature in the underbrush. Sunlight illuminating a tree branch or glinting off the warter of a pond for an instant, Distant blue hills silhouetted against a peach sky. Fishing out a bee that got stuck on the red oil paint on my palette and putting it on the grass so it can free its wings and fly away. The smell of rosemary bushes in Tuscany. The sound of the wings of a heron as it flies over my head on its way to the edge of the pond that I am painting, to fish for its supper. Everything fades from my consciousness except the light, and the color, and the brush and palette knife, and the need to ATTEMPT to capture the moment on the canvas.

Some of my newest paintings will be installed at THE TAVERN CLUB, 333 N. MICHIGAN AVENUE, 25TH FLOOR GALLERY from November 11, 2005 (Reception 5:30 to 7:30 PM) and remain on view until January 3, 2006, with other painters of Plein Air Painters of Chicago/Southwest.