My path to becoming an artist and illustrator has taken many turns. I have always seen myself first as a draftsman, valuing the accurate representation of images and vistas drawn from life and plein aire ventures. After moving to Maine thirty years ago I discovered the excitement of painting in designer gouache. While sometimes tricky to over-paint, I found an ease in creating matte-textured images that began to subtly mirror my earlier design work in serigraphs. In 2001 I was introduced almost accidentally to the acrylic gouaches that anchor my work now. I always start my images from nature, on site, and with a variety of small sketches in colored pencil or watercolor. Coupled with photographs from the scene, I create a larger permanent work in the studio–but as the painting evolves, it inevitably drifts away from the earlier sketches and photos and takes on a character all its own!
Thom Buescher Paintings and Illustrations 