I’m generally not a quotes person, but a poster in one of my college’s studios has always stuck with me over the years. It was a painting by Matisse, and his quote: “Look at life with the eyes of a child.”

While I’m a few good decades past from my childhood, there is something to be said for looking at things from a less analytical, or adult, perspective. I thought about that quote as I worked on “East Hill” 40 x 30, as there were so many things in the scene that my grown-up mind wanted to leave in…simply because they were there. For me, a composition is more about what’s left out, and what’s changed, than what is actually there.