Quiet Evening, acrylic on panel, 18Ó x 24Ó

Cotuit's Anne Boucher has been known to hike through thigh-high snow, hang on to tree branches, and wade into a grey winter sea--all in an effort to create art. "About 70 percent of my work is exploring, and 30 percent is in my studio," explains Boucher, who has a gallery in West Barnstable, adjacent to the Old Village Store.

Boucher prowls the Outer Cape, her favorite place for finding scenes to paint, in a kayak, on a bike, and on foot. She records details with pencils and brushes on small color studies and sketches for future reference, and then heads to her studio. "With me, the trick is not having any preconceived ideas," she says. "I just head out."

Like so many artists drawn to the Cape, it is usually light--the way it dances off the water, makes the sea grass appear translucent, or darkens the mud flats as it sets--that inspires her to paint a particular scene. "It almost always has something to do with the light," she says. "It's an emotional reaction from being outside. If you're on your bike or in your kayak...you instantly think, Oh, that's a painting."

We see such a instinctive connection to the natural world in vivid works like Winter Harvest, an acrylic-on-panel depicting a shellfisherman working the Pamet River in Truro, backlit by the pinks and greys of a setting February sun. The water is still, except for ripples as the man trudges back to the beach. "It was spectacular," Boucher says of the luminous tableau she captured. "It was one of those evenings that was perfectly calm." Boucher notes that she is continually energized by Cape Cod's widespread beauty, working to capture nature's intensity and immediacy in the studio.

Not formally trained as a painter, Boucher grew up in Detroit and attended a technical school where she received extensive training in drawing. However, when it comes to painting, she is self-taught. She has also taught painting, which has forced her to look closely at how she works.

A founder of Cape Cod's influential "21 in Truro" group, Boucher's paintings of quintessential Cape and Islands scenes have won numerous awards. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Cape Cod Museum of Art, the Duxbury Art Complex Museum, and the Cahoon Museum of American Art as well as in private collections around the world.

Boucher says she has lived on the Cape since she was 21. She discovered it in 1974 after visiting friends living in a Wellfleet cottage, who were "running around barefoot and growing vegetables," she says. "Two weeks later, I was back looking for a place to live. It just seemed like paradise to me."

For more information on Anne Boucher's art, go to www.anneboucherfineart.com, call 774-238-2859, or visit Boucher Fine Art, Route 149, West Barnstable, MA.

Donna Scaglione is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Hatchville.