“Yard Times” is an art exhibition featuring mixed media artwork by artist Amanda Smith. Smith works as a senior lecturer in painting at Indiana University.

The show opened Sept. 3 and will be on display in the University of Evansville’s Melvin Peterson Gallery until Oct. 19.

Although Smith’s vibrant colors and organic subjects might remind people of works by Monet or Van Gogh, her paintings were not created alla prima in one sitting. If she had done it all at once, Smith would have run the risk of the edges of the leaves blending together because the oil paint would not have had enough time to “dry.” This would have counteracted the depth she worked so hard to achieve.

Smith uses glazes to push leaves further into the background. Glazing is a process in which translucent layers of paint are applied over dry layers. Glazes can be used to make whatever is being glazed darker, lighter or a different color. By using glazes, Smith creates depth that makes these leaves feel as if they are in shadow. As a result, the foliage seems abundant and full.

This might only be interesting to other artists, but Amanda Smith seems to make at least some of her own canvases. The edges of her canvases are not painted, but they also are not gessoed. Store-bought canvases tend to come pre-gessoed. Since canvases that are as large as, for example, the ones she used for “Janus” and “Sunset (Silver Maple)” tend to retail for roughly several hundred dollars, it might be more affordable for her to make them. This is a relatively common practice among painters.

“Janus” stood out to me because of Smith’s use of color. When looking closely at this painting, the tree bark is intensely purple, the brick is without a doubt pink and the light glowing from the window is creamsicle orange. Yet, somehow, the piece manages to remain grounded in reality.

Although Smith pushes the colors in her paintings, her understanding of how color works is how she is able to do this. Instead of painting objects the colors we know them to be, she exaggerates the colors that they would appear to be under different lighting conditions.

Smith uses color in a way that brings out the beauty in what we might find ordinary, such as the trees we see lining the sidewalk on walks through suburbia or in repurposed grocery bags. It even makes litter beautiful.

The way she renders these soda cans is stunning. I especially adore how the reflections off the soda cans affect the color of the grass around them.

If you are interested in landscape paintings, still lives and dazzling colors, seeing “Yard Times” is worth the drive.

You can find more of Amanda Smith’s work on her website.