Dennis Rhoades

Have you ever been driving down the road and glimpsed something in the

landscape that made you turn your car around and return to see it again?

That's what I want my paintings to express. Whether it's the lighting, the

colors, the shapes or all of the above, that's what I'm trying to capture on

canvas---a picture that you never tire of viewing because it brings back

memories, a place you want to live in or visit.

My paintings begin with an awareness of the light and dark shapes before me.

When a subject calls to me, I begin with sketches to establish my

composition and the painting's sense of color relationships. Then I transfer

the sketch with a black grease pencil in more detail to the larger painting

surface. After undercoating the entire white surface with a transparent wash

of raw umber liquid acrylic paint, I begin painting from darks to lights

until finished. Like creating a musical composition, it should have rhythm,

tempo and harmony as well as soft-hard and warm-cool passages. The eye

should be drawn to the center of interest then wander around the rest of the

picture, pausing briefly before returning to the beginning.

The result is my extremely delicate, yet tactile, manifestation of natural

forces and light. The paintings possess qualities meant to outlast the

viewer's initial infatuation, qualities that will endure well into succeeding generations.