Artist's Statement

Landscape represents to me eternal beauty with infinite variations. My artistic challenge is to create something new from commonplace scenes. Ordinary places I pass every day become extraordinary by the way the light strikes them, by unexpected shapes formed in light and shadow, or in the “rightness” of the entire scene. Any one of these or combinations thereof become the initial energy of the painting, which then proceeds to dictate it’s own creative direction.

Painting for me, is a continuous process of exploration, discovery, and some frustration that then leads to further exploration and discovery. My preference is to work outdoors, responding to the beautiful, vanishing natural beauty of the space around me. I also work from sketches, memory, photographs, and the view from my windows and my own paintings. Though representational, my paintings are not factual. They are meant to convey an expression of the wonderment and joy that I see and feel. My aim is to make time stop--for the viewer to share that specific moment in that specific place.

©2003 Lee Cohen All Rights Reserved