Landscape artist Rod Bouc draws inspiration from memories of his childhood on a Nebraska farm and attending a one-room schoolhouse. He describes his paintings as having romantic qualities in the tradition of Midwest artists Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry and Thomas Hart Benton.

His mother, a seamstress, encouraged him to draw in the days before art classes were available to him. He even painted seasonal scenes on the windows with shoe polish.

Although Bouc was unsure of what to study in college, his best friend, Charlie, saw him as a natural artist. He majored in art at the University of Nebraska.

He was intimidated walking into his first college art class with students who had been studying art in high school. After graduation, his time at the university was extended by five years when a faculty member offered him studio space.

When the studio was no longer available, Bouc applied to graduate school and attended the Ohio State University, where he experimented with squeezing paint onto large canvases.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

He naturally gravitated toward painting realistic landscapes, but his professors encouraged him to try other styles, particularly abstract art, which was becoming very popular in the early 1970s.

Local art:From giant gavels to anthropomorphic deer, a guide to exploring Columbus through art

As a result, his landscapes took on an abstract quality while retaining a strong sense of place. He was encouraged by grad school friends, Anne, who is retired from the Wexner Center, and Diane, who he reconnected with a few years ago and is now his wife.

He uses a variety of materials to create his works. Early on, he began experimenting with creating pictures with livestock markers, which were cheap and readily available in his days on the farm.

He uses them to this day, creating magnificent scenes of fields of flowers. He also uses Markal’s paintstik markers, inexpensive implements made of wax and pigment withstanding a temperature range of 150 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, in addition to a range of pastels in his artist’s toolkit.

His database lists 750 works, not including 250 or so early works which disintegrated over time. He now uses R&F high-quality encaustics, applying the pigment with a brush, a technique he had given up on “as a rule” for a number of years.

He describes the process of creating his landscapes with the ethereal term “other worldly,” associating the process with automatic writing, in which the art is channeled through him.

Art news:Wexner Center for the Arts to welcome new head of exhibitions this fall

He thinks of painting as a way of “de-fragging” his brain, to use a technology analogy. Like many highly creative people, he can get into “the zone” for hours, which fly by like minutes.

His subject matter ranges from flowers and fields to clouds and tornadoes. His tornado pieces are especially powerful and reminiscent of his childhood days when tornadoes swept across rural Nebraska and he and his family would wait out the storm in their basement. His mother found comfort in keeping a crucifix nearby. The crucifix now stands in his studio.

One frustration he has run into as an abstract landscape artist is that over the many hours, or days, it can take to paint a landscape, the sunlight changes, which changes the placement of shadows, and seasons change, influencing the color palette.

To combat this challenge, he often works from photographs. His most cherished pastoral area has been reclaimed by the railroad. So, he is looking for another go-to area for inspiration.

When a gallery or museum chooses pieces for exhibition, the process can be a combination of online selection and having a curator come to Bouc’s studio to decide which works will work best with the theme of the show.

Until his retirement as executive deputy director at the Columbus Museum of Art, Bouc always held art-related positions in addition to making art. His work is in collections across the U.S. and in Japan.

He is also a printmaker and serves on the board of Phoenix Rising and the Ross Museum of Art in Delaware.

He uses R&D oil sticks to paint images on plexiglass and presses the image on paper, creating a monotype, or single image. If enough pigment is left on the plexiglass, another image can be extracted, referred to as a “ghost image.”

Amy Drake’s local work:Local filmmakers produce award-winning work about Emily Dickinson

His works are currently on view at the Springfield Museum of Art, 107 Cliff Park Road, Springfield, through May 2025, along with paintings by Elise Sanchez and Eric Barth.

He will have a solo show at Shawnee State University’s Appleton Gallery, 940 Second St., Portsmouth, opening in January 2025.

For more information about upcoming exhibitions or to purchase work directly from the artist, visit rodbouc.com.

Amy Drake, M.A., M.S. MCM, is a Telly Award-winning filmmaker, playwright and actor. She can be reached at [email protected].