Does It Speak To You? "My landscapes and seascapes start from a real place, but I feel I must take it somewhere, put myself into the painting. I paint what I love: Nantucket Island, Connecticut’s barns and meadows, and, there is nothing like the great rocky coast of Maine. If I paint just what’s there, just as it appears, that’s not enough. I try to tell what’s essential to set the stage, but not too much; let the viewer fill in the blanks. Only then will they feel it - that they are part of the painting, always, with a scene they can go back to again and again and find something new each time. Only then is there a true connection, artist to viewer. Vesper George School of Art in Boston gave me a solid academic and painting foundation, with Don Stone as an instructor. And, twenty plus years as a graphic artist helped form the painter I am today. Strongly influenced by Wyeth and the early impressionists, I tend to see the environment in its simplest terms, concentrating on nature’s essentials. My work can be found in homes and corporations coast to coast, and is displayed in shows and galleries from Maine to Florida. My paintings are included in the permanent collections of the following corporations: Aetna, Bayer, Chrysler Capital, J. Crew, Kaiser Permanente, Shaw’s Supermarket Corporation, Travelers Insurance, and United Technologies. If a painting is worth a thousand words, I will not give you a thousand words. You can know all about me, my background, motivations, accomplishments, and all that. But, just like in a painting, too much information gets in the way. It does not matter. What really matters is: Do you like my vision? If you do not, all my words do not matter. It’s all about the painting. Does it speak to you?" - Ed Hicks