Randy Sights-Baskerville

I love to paint landscapes of places traveled or lived, as well as objects from my various surroundings. This intimacy with familiar things and places gives me an internal sense of "homeness." Since developing an interest in painting, I have been dazzled more and more by the world around me. Things I dismissed before in the daily drama of my life are suddenly fascinating. Although I forget myself in the process of painting, I am curiously coming to know myself in a new way.

For the most part, I paint in oils, wet-on-wet, using the palette knife and building up thick layers of color. I sometimes paint with brushes or with pastels, and enjoy intense colors, which repeat through the paintings. Lately, I have been painting mostly on “cradle” or box surfaces, constructed for me by my husband, Bill, who uses masonite and leftover pieces of wood from other projects.

I come from all over the world, having grown up in an Air Force family. My favorite "home" was Casablanca , Morocco because of its exotic nature and interesting people. I notice that the content of my paintings are greatly influenced by the colors, architecture and, especially, landscapes of places lived.

After completing college in Oklahoma , I moved to the east coast, attended graduate schools in Washington , D.C. and Charlottesville , taught elementary school for 12 years and married Bill Baskerville. Upon retiring three years ago from a 25 year counseling private practice, I began taking art courses at Piedmont Virginia Community College and McGuffey Art Center .  

Since that time, my interest in art has "hooked" me. I belong to a couple of sketch groups which meet regularly in different homes, and I try to paint some each day - except, of course, when 'life" gets in the way. I also take periodic lessons from a friend and fellow artist I greatly admire. 

Fruit on Green Table Cloth

Fenced Meadow

Wildflowers

Snow Field

Middle River

China Wall Watch Tower

Rivanna II