Tom Benjamin NEAC is committed to the practice of plein air painting.

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Artist's Statement

'I am committed to the practice of plein air painting. The sense of the subject being about to slip away as the light changes lends the working process a sense of urgency. I am often drawn to subjects which have a sense of slippage such as the coast where wet mud or rock pools gives way to water which reflects the sky, or woods where light falling on a visual tangle creates tension between the form and weight of the subject and the play of light which both reveals and disguises it. 

 

I tend to produce a group of paintings in each location and there are some places I have been working in for many years. Paintings are sometimes completed in a single session but more often I return to them aiming to carry on when the light and weather are similar. I paint quickly and relish the improvisations required by painting in front of a quickly changing subject.'