Santa Fe, New Mexico painter Bill Berra finds the inspiration for his painting from the Macchiaioli group of 19th century Italian painters, Frederick Church's small studies, Victor Higgin's small gems, French painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Oriental art.

The self-taught plein-aire painter has been painting his whole life. Born in 1952, Berra was raised in York, Pennsylvania. After only a year at the Maryland Institute of Art, Berra he left the school in 1972 because he did not fit in with the abstract expressionist movement, which was popular at the time. The artist continued to paint the scenery of the Mid-Atlantic States. In 1976 he headed West and found himself in Santa Fe where he has lived ever since.

Berra, who p...