The son of a military physician, Jeff Aeling (b.1958, Kansas City), first fell in love with the natural world through his family’s postings in Hawaii and Colorado. Surfing and skiing immersed the young man in the immensity of the outdoors, and it became the defining characteristic of his work. Aeling eschews plein air painting. Reducing the passage of time into a synthesized scene doesn’t sit well with his attachment to a particular moment, so he prefers to work from photographs that he takes himself. He spends a great deal of time scouting subject matter, returning when the light is to his liking. In the morning and shortly before or immediately following sunset are best, when the light is soft, the shadows are long, and the clouds (there must be clouds) take on otherworldly hues.