Words have a great attraction for me, whether I am planning a painting in the studio, or reacting to something paintable while exploring outside. When I start hearing titles in my head, I know I am on the track of a concept which is the first of the more important ingredients in making a painting.

When I came upon this Victorian cottage overrun with wild bittersweet, I received a lot of mixed signals. Was the painting to be about bittersweet? About Victorian houses? About light? About the feeling of space high above the sea? The problem here was too many attractions! The challenge was to combine and discipline all of these elements into a working whole - to focus on the main attraction - which I finally realized was light - the reason most artists paints.

- Nita Engle