“There is a certain quiet power in telling the story of a place without saying much at all.”

This is the philosophy of Lizzie Abelson, February's featured artist for St. Anthony on the Desert's virtual art exhibit. A New England native, Lizzie grew up surrounded by the acres of farmland in Suffield, Conn. She studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and spent a year in Rome with RISD's European Honors Program. After college, she enjoyed a brief stint as a freelance illustrator for The New Yorker.

Abelson’s inspirations are far-ranging and eclectic from 17th century Flemish landscape painters, to 20th century Tonalists, to subtle still life paintings, to David Hockney and Wolf Kahn. Her marginally wild landscapes evoke a sense of moody nostalgia -- unkempt fields over tidy lawns, leafless branches over summer's foliage, silence over noise.

She prefers to work small, as it lends itself to experimentation and, more importantly, the freedom to make mistakes. Such tiny, intimate paintings also work to draw the viewer in close. Her challenge is to successfully capture the essence of a scene -- be it epic, expansive, complex or serene -- using a minimal palette and little in the way of details, all within a few square inches.

Abelson currently lives with her family in Boylston, Mass., where she is occupied with the fine art of being a stay-at-home mom to two teenagers.

Her exhibit, “Silence Over Noise: The Wild Landscapes of Lizzie Abelson,” can be viewed throughout the month of February on the St. Anthony on the Desert website at st-anthony.net/the-arts-council.