In analyzing the watercolors of Roy Mason, the first thing that comes to mind is their essential decorativeness, yet this word has such a varied connotation that it needs some elaboration here. True, a Mason watercolor is unmistakably a synthesis of nature rather than a detailed inventory. Unlike many decorative patterns that present a static flat convention, this artist's pictures are full of atmosphere and climate.

Long observation has taught Mason that most landscape can be reduced to three essential planes: a foreground in sharp focus -- either a light area with dark accents or a dark one with lights; a middle distance often containing the major motif; and a background, usually a silhouetted form foiled against the sky. In following this general principle, Mason provides the observer with a natural eye progression from foreground to background, and the illusion of depth is instantly created.

When painting, Mason's physical eyes are half closed, while his mind's eye is wide open, and this circumstance accounts in part for the impression he wishes to convey. He does not insist on telling all he knows about any given subject; rather his pictures invite the observer to draw on his memory, his imagination, his nostalgia. It is for this reason that Roy avoids selecting subjects that require specific recognition of place for their enjoyment. His pictures generalize, though they are inspired by a particular locale; they universalize in terms of weather, skies, earth, and people. By dealing with common landscape in an uncommon way, Roy Mason has found a particular niche in American landscape art. Living with his watercolors is a vicarious experience of seeing nature distilled through the eyes of a sensitive interpretor, a breath and breadth of the outdoor world to help man honor the Creator of it all.