Artist statement from Tom:
"My vision in painting is to create images of places I would like to be and pleasant feelings I would like to feel. I hope to present these places in such a way that the specific location is not as important as is the sense that the viewer has experienced a similar place or felt the feeling that is represented by the image. The progression of creating images follows from on-site watercolor sketch to large watercolor to oil painting. When I do the sketch I try to let the scene speak to me as it leads me through to the image on paper. The rest of the progression takes place in my Vermont studio. In this private workspace, I move away from the visual dictates of the scene I sketched. Instead, memory of how the place felt leads me into the painting process. More importantly, how the painting itself develops determines its final outcome. Rather than manipulating the image toward an intentional resolution, I follow the way one stage of the painting feels to me as I move on to the next. I don’t make success paintings, I find them." ~Thomas Vieth |