One cold day in a cornfield changed my life. That day I had taken my paints to a remote area to do a painting on location. I went there with the desire to make an ‘‘honest’’ painting, because I felt much of my work up to that point was clever and contrived. As I watched the way the light changed the landscape, I suddenly realized that my art could describe my experience, and thereby connect me to the world. The painting I did that day was not very good, but it captured the spirit of what I saw. That desire to capture the spirit of a particular place and moment has stayed with me to this day.

Painting from life has become a ritual for me, but it is also my work. Every day I go somewhere to make a painting without knowing exactly what will happen. Because I have no preconceived idea as I set out, my subject matter is unlimited. I might choose to paint a scene on the basis of light and shadow, or because of the feeling I get when I see a lone building at the top of a hill. I do not seek postcard scenes; I seek an intensity of feeling that comes only from being in a particular place at a particular time. So many things in the landscape are interesting, especially here in Western Pennsylvania: steel mills, city skylines, snow-filled parks, twisting side streets, and even back yards. For me, it is a painter’s paradise.

My small panel paintings are completed within a day. Light changes so quickly that I must get something down before the scene becomes entirely different. I have found I can usually finish these paintings in my studio from memory after getting a good start outside. Often I go back to the site at the exact time on a similar day to finish the piece. I am trying to capture a moment in time, and the light must be unified for that to happen.

When I look at a scene, I analyze the colors, simplify the shapes, mix the paint, and then put it all together very quickly. This is a skill that has taken me many years of experience to develop. It becomes a struggle against time and the elements, especially when working in windy or extremely cold weather.