Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 26 26 Acrylics have several practical advantages. Because they are water soluble, brushes can be easily cleaned with soap and water, while keeping our home studios free of toxins and odors associated from the solvents used in painting with oils. Moreover, Liqui- tex, Golden, and other manufactures of artists' paints have developed a wide range of complementary products, including gessos, gels, thickeners, glazes, and varnishes. IT'S OBVIOUS FROM YOUR ART THAT YOU LOVE MONTANA LANDSCAPES; BUT YOU ALSO HAVE DONE A GREAT DEAL OF WORK IN NORTH CAROLINA WHERE YOU TAUGHT FOR MANY YEARS, AS WELL AS OCCASIONAL PIECES FROM YOUR WORLDWIDE TRAVELS. WHAT COMMONALITY DO YOU SEE IN YOUR CHOICE OF SUBJECT MATTER AMONG THESE SEEMINGLY MUCH DIFFERENT LOCALES? I paint the places I have experienced and photographed. In Montana, I am attracted to the wide open vistas and the natural beauty of forests, streams, wildfl owers, and mountains. In the Piedmont region of central North Carolina, where the landscapes are more confi ned by lush vegetation and the rolling terrain, I drive the back roads looking for old weathered houses and tobacco barns. They are getting harder to fi nd as farm land is gobbled up by suburban housing developments. I also enjoy painting the brilliant autumn colors of the hardwood trees of the region, more so than the summer greens. The subjects of my international paintings are eclectic, depending on what is distinc- tive about the more than 40 foreign countries I have visited in conjunction with my academic career or as a tourist. Among my landscapes are scenes of an onion-domed Russian monastery, the canals of Venice, the traditional nomadic life in Mongolia, a centuries-old wooden Stave church in Norway, and views of the high Himalayas from a trek in Nepal. Stave Church, Norway I especially look forward to the days of early summer in western Montana when forests are fresh, hillsides are green, snow lingers on the higher mountains, wildflowers bloom, and towering cumulus clouds race across the sky.

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