Chris Lathrop - I am excited to be a part of this year's Open House Weekend. I am spending the spring and summer months traveling with my husband in our motorhome. We will visit the Southwestern US and then go on north to Alaska for the warmer months. I hope to have several paintings of these areas as well as more local scenes and some animals and birds for this year's show. I am exploring adding more human figures to my paintings (a real challenge for me!).

I continue to admire all of nature, and trees in particular. Trees have such beautiful shapes and textures and of course are useful in so many ways. In Texas I noticed and photographed a wonderful live oak in a pasture with cows and calves enjoying the spreading branches. This became a painting (see example).

It is especially satisfying to view our beautiful country through the eyes of an artist. I have learned to see so much more than I used to. The challenge is to reproduce it with brushes and paint. I hope I can bring some of the wonders to you on paper.

Please visit me on South Main Street in Montrose during Open House Weekend. For further information contact me by e-mail at clath@epix.net.