Artist Statement:"For the past decade, I’ve painted on linen, leaving the field either raw or lightly touched with a wash of color. This method insists on a willingness to take what is immediately given, further challenging is my habit of painting “alla prima”, or wet into wet. This approach allows little opportunity for revision, and tiptoes along the edge of chaos.” After pursuing a degree in English and nearly passing up art entirely, she returned to UT to develop the craft that has guided her since. Making a solo debut soon after graduating at Women & Their Work in 1989, followed by the receipt of the City of Austin Cultural Arts Grant, she was well on her way to making a name for herself. Over the years, though, her paintings have pushed away from representation and toward abstraction, but she’s stuck with the medium. “I’ve always been involved with the physicality of paint,” she says, something that is magnified by the large scale of her work. Sydney Yeager in her Austin, Texas studio.