I am a perceptual painter who works primarily in oils. 

My interest in art started in childhood. I found my first subject matter in the fields and streams that I explored around my rural Maryland home. When I felt that connection  mirrored in the landscapes at the Phillips Collection and other Washington, DC museums, my passion to become an artist was born.

My first subject matter was the landscape, with forays into other subjects, specifically the figure and still life. No matter what I choose, I use my personal connection to direct my approach. 

Oil paint, with its infinite malleability, opaque layering, and delayed drying time is a perfect medium for my process. It allows me time to digest my original impressions and the ability to change my mind as I decide what is essential and what is extraneous.

I aim to find a  balance between opposing forces, two or more things happening in tandem but often unaware of each other. A cool stream on a hot summer day…a warmly lit house on a cold winter night… a bird resting briefly on a sunflower. My figures often seem on the verge of moving toward the viewer or away from them.

My work builds on the tradition of fine art painting, specifically the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. The masters are the platform from which I spring to find my own voice. I augment my skills  as a copyist at the National Gallery of Art.

I paint because I find mystery in the space that exists somewhere between a flat surface covered with pigment and a living thing that expresses a mood or an idea. My goal as a painter is to keep that magic alive, in myself and in the person who views it.

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tomsemmes.com