Painting "en plein air" gives me an entirely different feel from work done in the studio. It is necessarily more spontaneous, since the  elements are always a factor with which one has to contend. I do not try to duplicate what I see in nature; rather, I seek to give a feeling of place, whether that is the busyness of city life or the isolation in some more rural settings (that isolation can be in the city as well).

We have moved to a small town on the Georgia coast, so my perceptions are changing with the new location. The light across the marshes is so different to me, and some sunsets are so vivid that they seem too difficult to paint without appearing commercial.

I don't feel the necessity to paint "pretty" subjects, because it is too easy to become hackneyed. I paint larger paintings from the smaller sketches unless I have enough time in the spot to attempt a larger canvas. Generally I like to paint on a larger scale. My medium is most often oil or pastel however, lately, I like to do watercolors because of their easier portability .