Artist Ed Hicks focuses on the landscape's color and it's variations with light. He searches New England for that special place, a scene that strikes him for a single element that becomes the central point of the painting. He is noted for achieving color and texture with iol paints that is unique to the medium. With a backround in transparent watercolors, his approach to oil achieves a similar tone-lighter and more colorful than many traditional oil paintings. Hicks feels that what is left out is as important as what is put in the scene, focusing on what first captures his attention. "I paint open-ended landscapes. I give a painting just enough information to evoke a scense of place, but allow the viewer to fill in the specifics. But, for me, the greatest measure of my suces is the positive responses to my work." "When someone is stopped by a painting, I want them to see the picture, but to feel the spirt of the place." His studies gave Hicks a solid academic foundation, and Wyeth and the early Impressionists strongly influence his work. This, together with twenty years as a graphic artist, have helped form the painter he is today. Hicks' work is collected in private homes and in corporations around the world. He has received numerous awards and has had several one-man shows.