Peter Gough

Although I grew up in the city, I was a country boy at heart. Now I live where my heart and imagination have always resided and go to the city only to visit museums and galleries and to pick up art supplies. I fish, hunt, canoe and beach-comb. I hike through forests, across tundra, along rocky shorelines. I note the moods of the changing weather and seasons and marvel how a well-beloved landscape can change its appearance from one day to the next, one hour to the next. This is my world and this is what I paint. I call myself a contemporary naturalist.

As Picasso said, "I don't search for things, I find them." Once I get to know an area I recognize almost instinctively what I want to paint. The more familiar you are with an area or landscape, the more aware you are of its details, its nuances. You develop a sense of its intrinsic nature - its soul. And I've come to realize that I'm not only trying to portray the visual world in my painting, I'm saying something about my spiritual response to the land and its dynamic harmonies, as well.

I believe that every work of art should in some way be a revelation. It should change us in some degree - both viewer and artist.

Random Symmetry   44°35'00"N 64°22'00"W
acrylic on canvas, 40 in x 60 in