"Painting is elusive. It is very difficult to verbalize, as you're putting into words something that speaks on its own," says the artist Patrick Ryan who adopted the pen name of Henri Plisson for his impressionist paintings. "If you think in musical terms, painting is like jazz in that you skirt around the material or subject matter and orchestrate the work so that it can live on its own, rather than just be a representational facsimile of something," he adds. Combining an original perspective of images with a classical foundation.

Henri creates richly textured paintings with his unique vision. His superb technical skill, coupled with a rich imagination, has firmly established his reputation as a modem impressionist of great renown.

A world traveler, Henri now resides in California. His gardens are reminiscent of Majorca, the island off` the coast of Spain which he called home for several years. It was in this secluded and creative environment, that Henri experimented and perfected his artistic style.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Henri attended the University of Nebraska followed by the University of Southern California, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree.

Although this extremely gifted impressionist paints varied subjects: garden scenes, seascapes, still life's and figures, he insists that his paintings are beyond the recognizable subject. "I keep referring in my own mind to what William Merritt Chase advised his students while painting.'to make it like.' In other words, make it like in terms of the way you use paint rather than doing a literal representation." He continues, " If a painting is too finished, too exact, it poses limitations on your ability to see it. The image freezes, limiting your illusion. What you are doing in impressionism is focusing on one thing, but you are painting another. I am paintings a visual echo of what I see."

Henri is an innovative artist, whose thoughts, skill and style have set him apart from his contemporaries. Using his intuitive technique, he incorporates an extraordinary sense of color with vibrant and radiant images.

Works by this modern American Impressionist master are currently represented in many important corporate and private collections.