"Many of my landscape images come from Nebraska and Iowa. All of my choices of sites for paintings, drawings, and prints begin with a passionate attachment to the subject. Decisions about composition and scale come in response to my personal experience with the site. For me, looking at art is a perceptual event. Paintings are inventions, whether they are abstract or representational. Finding a way to create in paint an experience that might parallel what I see is a significant part of the magic of art for me." - James D. Butler