Romantic Realism

Categories: 2026 May-June Issue, Landscape, Mixed Media, Pastel, Perkinson, Tom, and Watercolor.

Landscape Artist Tom Perkinson Paints From Memory, Intuition, and the Mind’s Eye

 

When viewing one of Tom Perkinson’s landscape paintings, you will catch yourself thinking, “Where did he see this?” The answer is simple: in his mind’s eye.

“I’m an intuitive painter,” Perkinson says. “I’m a painter of fiction.” He’s not a plein air painter, and he doesn’t work from photographs, unless it’s a landmark structure. He simply looks inward, using his imagination to create—and then paint—whatever comes to him.

And what comes to Perkinson are stunning landscapes filled with light and brilliant colors. “I want viewers to see the world in a different way,” he says. “I want them to have a feeling of balance and peace. I try to make my work attract viewers from a distance. I try to get them to visually walk around in the painting and discover different elements. I want to capture the viewer as long as I can without telling them everything in the painting. I want to keep the painting loose and evocative.”

Read the full article in the May/June 2026 issue.

 

Mixed media painting of chapel in a snowy landscape with birds flying overhead and a mountain in the background

Winter at Rancho de las Golondrinas

mixed media
12″ by 16″

 

Pastel painting of a freight train passing distant canyons under a crescent moon in the night sky

Freight Train at Sunset

pastel
20″ by 10″

 

Share