The midwest landscape has become the welcome constant in my daily life when driving place to place. But on many occasions, when the intention is to truly “see” the landscape (still often from the car window), beautiful, abstract moments can be found that are not that far removed from what is truly there. What do I look at? Shadows running down a ditch. Fence posts creating not only borders, but connections reaching up into a horizon. Corrugated metal siding on a building that has turned a warm rust orange. Organized grove lines and plant rows whose placed structure en mass pulls away from its individual organic shape. The same routes, the same landscapes - viewed at different times of day and different times of year - all become foundations for exploration on canvas. The inclusion of views from a Cessna 140 have allowed a new view of this landscape I thought I knew well. This new perspective on the area has opened up doors of new compositions, color possibilities, and most importantly, emphasized the style I usually employ in my paintings: organized, geometric lines and breakdown of the familiar landscape. Due to this focus, venturing from small town to small town usually lends itself more to research than travel - and midwest color is always there, explored