I paint light on the Michigan landscape. These are constructed studio landscapes in water-soluble oil paint derived from specific places, but meant to invoke universal memories.I have long had a strong connection to the land. I grew up on a farm in Ionia County, Michigan surrounded by places familiar to seven generations of my family. The fields, orchards, ponds, tree and fence rows planned and planted by my ancestors resonate within me.I often visit the Leelanau penninsula, a place with rolling hills, farms, orchards and dunes surrounded by Lake Michigan. It is a place also settled by early homesteaders some of which is now protected by the National Park Service. I am interested in the fragility and impermanence of our struggling environment. My work usually includes marks of human interaction with the land, such as structures, roads, or fence posts.I am a retired art professor from Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, where I taught color, design and composition for twenty five years. My studio materials are solvent-free oil paints, respectful of my own health as well as that of our planet. It is a pleasure to use my acquired skills and experience in my studio by simplifying the forms I see in nature.