The Ascension Landscape Paintings Series of Contemporary American Landscape Paintings was inspired by the vast bold landscapes and skies of summer on the Great Plains landscapes. There are many influences that go into this series. I read a poem once that had a line that said, "the sky was full of blue, and full of the mind of God".  The huge expansiveness of the Great Plains landscape reminds us that there is something grander then us, something deeper and more comforting and yet awesome.  There is a simplicity to the land on first glance but then translates to wondrous nuances of complexity as we sit with it all. 

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     The series is also about painting, and the influences felt from a range of artists before me. I find it a wonderfully enjoyable challenge to take the invigoration of a huge landscape and then turn that inspiration into an image that regards the formal elements of picture plane, materials, design and color and the paint itself. One of the pieces, "Big Ascension", was part the recent, Contemporary American Landscape Paintings Exhibition in Annapolis, MD. The exhibition was curated by Joann Moser, Senior Curator at the Smithsonian's American Museum of Art. That was a nice honor.