Capturing nature's beauty - billowing clouds, colorful mesas, delicate flowers, restless waters or the forest's  serenity - is an artistic challenge. It helps me see and appreciate my everyday surroundings. With art flowers can bloom and landscapes can beckon anytime. The photographs I take  for painting ideas have turn into another art form for me to explore. A painting or  a photograph can capture the memories in the artist's emotional response  to the scene. Trying to portray the heart of the people and the spirit of the land is humbling, yet stimulating, for me. Painting has  enriched my appreciation of the world around me.