Catherine Brown

The daily observation of changing light on the landscape is what catches my attention. En plein air paintings allow me to capture my response to a specific time and place affected by light. I like the way one can find oneself anchored to this specific moment and yet still allow oneself the freedom to explore the expressive response. My affinity to the natural world was nurtured by my parents and having had the privilege of growing up in the country on a dairy farm. My father shared his love and knowledge of the natural world when I walked through the fields and woods with him. After a day spent haying, harvesting and cutting wood for winter fuel the stillness at the end of day has special meaning to me. The time when one would pause and reflect on the day’s labors and the work to come on the morrow was time one could look out over the landscape and notice the possibilities of what was to come. The transitional time before dark when the slant of light is low still appeals to me. The progression of seasons with the tilt of the earth, the weather, all reveals the landscape anew. I am led to portray the expressive qualities of land and sky, the changing element of light and the mood it evokes within myself. It is within the landscape that I find myself drawn to images that evoke my response to the “bliss of solitude.”