Born in Charlottesville, VA and raised in Chattanooga, TN, I am a Southern girl at heart. For the past twenty years I have been a working artist, making images and marks, and using layers and textures to arrive at my composition intuitively. My inspiration begins with observing the awesomeness of God's creation and develops at the easel in my studio overlooking the beautiful Chattanooga Valley. What I see infuses what I paint. I play with the effects of using different mediums and the possibilities that layering allows to achieve depth and texture to surfaces. In addition to art workshops and classes and I am a student of close observation. My paintings express a flow of intense focus on the interplay of natural environment and the language of color and light. ~Ellen Franklin