DESCRIPTION AND METHOD OF WORK

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Osborn, 39, paints remembered scenes of his youth in rural Wisconsin, often depicting the landscape as populated by ghost-like figures. The figures actually are portraits of his ancestors, with the likenesses drawn from heirloom photographs and the mood inspired by family stories and his genealogical research. Weather conditions are usually ominous, with dark skies or the suggestion of a storm. (The artist with "All Presences Portrayed Darkly," above, a 60-inch by 84-inch oil on canvas painted in 2000.) Instead of ghosts, some paintings show empty chairs positioned in a field or meadow. "When I was a child I would experience these feelings, these presences in the landscape," says Osborn, who in each work seeks a particular emotional and formal balance between landscape and portrait. "In Wisconsin, the environment is so powerful that I really wanted it to play as important a role as the figure, so that is part of the reason I paint them as ghost-like images."

METHOD OF WORK

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Osborn paints in oil and applies many layers of thin, transparent glaze in the course of working out a composition. "I like large; 46 [inches] by 64 [inches] is my favorite dimension," he says.

FIRST ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

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When Osborn was growing up, a Modigliani print that hung in his family home inspired him. "I was fascinated by the image, by the fact that it wasn't part of an everyday experience," he says. "It communicated to me in a way that television or radio couldn't." Osborn's father is an artist (as a commercial artist, he designed the Greyhound Bus logo in the 1950s) who offered lessons that his son hasn't forgotten. "One time," Osborn recalls, "I drew a very good nose--a part of the face that's hard to draw. I had done it quickly, and he forced me to erase it and do it again, so [I could prove that] it wasn't an accident."

BIGGEST BREAK

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Osborn cites meeting Ruth Bachofner, his gallery representative, as his biggest break. An artist friend brought him to Bachofner's attention in late 1998, around the time his work appeared in New American Paintings.

KEEPING FOCUSED

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As an exercise, Osborn often hikes into the Southern California hills near Angeles Crest Highway to paint. "When it's 7 o'clock in the morning, and you have your gloves on, and you're painting and freezing, you're really concentrating on what you're doing," he says. "I do color studies and work on seeing--learning how to see."

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON

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Osborn says the sense of community at California State University, Long Beach, where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree, was vital to him, and the support he received from faculty made a difference. Professor Marie Thibeault influenced him the most. "It was her philosophy about being an artist that was inspiring," he says. "She believes that making art and being an artist must be intertwined with all aspects of your life. You can't make art in a vacuum. Marriage, your environment, your past and personal history are elements that should be able to surface in your work."