Inspired by the bas-relief sculptures of the ancient Romans, artist Jennifer Vranes developed a technique that involves painting with extreme textures. Unlike an ordinary palette knife painting, Vranes loads on the texture just where nature intended. The sky and distant mountains, for instance, remain flat and smooth; contrasting dramatically with the highly textured fields, bushes and trees in the foreground. This juxtaposition of texture versus smooth in just the right places gives her paintings their distinct and unmistakable 3-dimensional quality. Vranes literally "sculpts" on the thick texture with many large palette knives. The trunks of the Aspens actually feel like bark to the touch, and the petals of the wild poppies can almost be picked!