Fine Arts painting is what I do and have done for more than thirty years. My favorite time to create is during theafternoon and into the evening when there are few interruptions . I work in my she-shed studio that has a smallview of a large lagoon which changes with the tides from brimming with water into a mudflat. It is home to amyriad of shore birds and at low tide there are always few clammers digging for their evening meal. That viewand all the activity stimulates my need to create.As a studio painter, I use photos, sketches, notes, and objects as sources for my art. I take photos wherever I goand sometimes years will pass before I remember having the perfect image to use as a reference for a painting.Each time I begin working on a fresh canvas, my goal is to depict a combination of what exists mixed withimagination.Oil paint is my favorite medium in part because it remains wet and workable for days. I enjoy the smell of linseedoil and the rich colors and many ways the paint can be applied to a canvas seem to be unending. Everythingabout oil paint is deeply satisfying to me.I use palette knives, brushes and sometimes my gloved hands to create texture and a feeling of motion andvitality. Mark-making is important for creating contrasts and the visual and actual tactility.The ever-changing colors, light, and energy of the Maine coast are the primary inspirations for my work. Mypaintings present an opportunity to experience coastal living in a unique way. Imagination is a gift artists enjoysharing. I want my expressively painted, abstracted landscape paintings to stimulate viewers’ senses andpresent something new or evoke special feelings or memories. When viewers are moved by my paintings, I havesucceeded with my goals.~Adrienne Kernan LaVallee