Arleen Targan's landscapes in oil are either naturalistic or abstract, or both, or neither. They tend to evoke the overall sense of place rather than to evoke its mere image, with the intent, as the artist puts it "to kindle the feeling of being there." "I've always had an intense interest in the natural world, which I think is reflected in my landscapes. I am interested in the path the eye takes between earth and sky, which leads to the horizon. I will return again and again to certain motifs: the ‘push' of a field of sunflowers between earth and sky, the zigzag of a plowed field sandwiched between land, hill, and sky. I enjoy painting outdoors where anything can happen and often does. One knows that a cloud will not keep its shape, a shadow will move, a day will turn from sunny to cloudy in moments. These are the challenges that keep the artist alert to all possibilities and dependent on intuition and memory. Working against expectations and trying to avoid cliches is a challenge in a landscape as beautiful as that to be found in the countryside in which I live." Arleen Targan is a graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and of Skidmore College.