REPRESENTATIONAL PAINTERI am endlessly intrigued by the natural landscape and how humanity travels through it, works, and thrives.A native of northeast Wisconsin, it is through travel that I am most stimulated. Traveling 0ften takes me outside of my comfort zone, and develops new ways of seeing things. In each of my oil paintings I look for an opportunity to experiment and expand my ability to capture the light playing on different types of surfaces such as water, trees, rocks, fabric, skin and sky . My oil work has been described as being transparent, fractured, 3-dimensional, and having a true sense of movement. In my desire to use line and color to play off of the way the human eye works, I developed a style of painting that invites the viewer to a visual experience. From a distance the paintings seem realistic, and yet up-close, the elements start to shift and grow abstract. I call this Colour Refraction. As I've observed the reaction people have had to my work, I've discovered everyone's perception is different and that my work really isn't complete until it is viewed by others. Each person has his or her own life experiences and vision that interprets what the mind takes in.It has especially been a delight to see childrens’ reaction have when they see "North Bay Carousel." The size of the painting along with the sense of movement seems to invite them into the painting to take a ride. Their joyous reaction has led me to continue painting carousel horses and to start the Carousel Project where for every carousel print sold, one is available to a children's health care facility. To find out more: www.mricheson.com