“From a distance, I want my paintings to be very realistic—all about the beauty, wonder, and magic of the things I’ve painted.  But up close, I want the paintings to be entirely about color, texture, surface, gesture—all about paint.  That means I walk back and forth in my studio many miles in the course of making a large painting, alternately seeing the realistic image from across the room and getting lost again and again in the abstraction of the sensuous, juicy oils or diaphanous washes of acrylic when I’m close enough to touch the canvas with my brush.”

–Kesler Woodward