e think you will enjoy Mark Benesh's paintings of the countryside and small-town life. Mark has such a relaxed and pleasant style and his paintings evoke a simpler time. Mark's favorite painters are Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart-Benton, and Marvin Cone. He enjoys their subject matter and the techniques they used, specifically Benton and the way he distorts his images to give them a flow and motion. Mark says, "I love light, shadow, and color - and watercolor gives me the freedom to explore all three of those elements. My inspiration is nature, and the simplicity of the countryside. To me, beauty is in the things that are falling apart - like a rusty tractor, or weeds in a field, or a barn that is 150 years old. They contain character and emotion."