At the turn of the millennium, in the month of June of the year 2000--which seemed to be such an important symbol for change, I took on what I considered an old-fashioned adventure in living. I left a wonderful museum, where I had toiled for nearly 20 years, to go on the road with the idea of conducting a state-by-state search for unique scenic landscape properties within the United States, and when found, to paint them. Looking for distinctive state characteristics during the past five years of exploration has been challenging—mountains, rivers, forests and ocean beaches can look much alike. But, at site after site, panoramas, views, vistas, scenes, avenues, summits, valleys and more, singular elements have revealed stunning differences, even in neighboring states. Along the way I had opportunity to teach landscape workshops to elementary and high school students.

I was profoundly inspired to create and extend this project after working on a 1998 Corcoran Gallery Of Art exhibition called “The Painted Sketch, American Impressions from Nature, 1830-1880,” curated by Eleanor Jones Harvey, now Chief Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It featured the work of 19th century artists who went out into the landscape to record first-hand a sense of nature’s power and variety, and by extension, man’s place in our universe.

Most of these 50 + works are a selection of studies and finished paintings from all the states visited during seven different journeys made mainly in the spring and summer from 2000 – 2004. They are oil on canvas, with some drawings and a print.

My thanks to the Corcoran docents and museum staff and all my dear friends and family who supported this endeavor from the beginning, thought it loads of fun, read all the “Notes From The Road,” attended the Smithsonian's Renwick Talk, came to the first show in 2003 and the second in 2005 to look at the visual results of this truly fascinating saga. This website is dedicated to Truman, the most delightful companion every step of the way.