"I really love painting the dense woods, like at Turkey Creek. I love looking inside the woods. I like landscape." Cain pauses and then laughs, "I enjoy looking at trees probably more than I do people."

Cain refers to herself as a "boggy artist" since she enjoys painting the land, trees and natural surroundings.

She is able to escape reality through her art. As she paints, she feels as if she is painting a portal to another world. She is able to slip into this new undiscovered place through her paintbrush as it fills the canvas.

“I am told that very few artists can actually paint the dense woods and pull it off, but I enjoy the challenge,” Cain said.

Cain definitely pulls it off, and she does this on much larger canvases than most artists in the area.

"I started painting big, because you can fit more emotion into it," she explained. "In a smaller painting, you have to hide feelings. I don't mind painting big. A lot of times that scares an artist; however, this doesn't scare me at all."

Cain usually paints with acrylics. She finds that this speeds up the process of producing a work of art.

"I use acrylics because it dries faster, and I try to get a painting finished in a week," she added.

Because her love of art came to her when she was only seven years old, Cain can almost say that she has spent her entire life behind a canvas interested in art.

Cain's neighbor had an art studio in her home and would often invite Cain over to explore her artistic side. Cain immediately began developing her skills and starting a love affair with art.

"I wasn't fully aware that I had a talent, but I knew that I liked it," she said. "If you really have a love for something, you keep doing it."

Cain wasted no time diving into her passion. Although she never received a formal degree in art, Cain started taking art classes and has continued doing this for the last 25 years. She has attended courses and workshops at Okaloosa-Walton College and the University of West Florida Pensacola Junior College.

Out of all of the classes she has attended Cain said that two-dimensional design taught her the most about painting.

"The way that grammar is to composition," she explained. "Two-dimensional design is to art. You really have to understand design and composition."

When workshops are not available to her, Cain reads art books and trade magazines. She discovered, however, that the only way to truly perfect a skill is to just get out there and do it.

And do it she has done. Sometimes she has trouble motivating herself, but she is never disappointed at the outcome.

"I rarely feel like painting. I always have to force myself to start a painting," she explained. "It's like anything you have to do. I have to make myself start a painting. Once I'm into it, I wake up the next day and I am excited about painting on it."

Cain explains that painting is a lonely profession, and it takes certain types of people to be able to follow through with this sort of lifestyle.

With this in mind, she co-founded a small group of painters known as Emerald
Coast Plein Air Painters (http://pleinairflorida.org/ecpap.htm). Plein air is French and refers to the act of painting in an outside environment rather than indoors.

The group includes more than 70 members located in Okaloosa, Holmes, Walton, Washington and Bay counties. Each week Cain meets 10-12 of the members in various locations throughout the Florida Panhandle to create visual works of art. Working in a group provides motivation while also filling the loneliness.

"It is so nice to be able to meet with other artists once a week," Cain said. "It's just so cool."

No matter what your skill level, everyone is welcome with the Emerald Coast
Plein Air Painters (http://pleinairflorida.org/ecpap.htm), Cain added.

Cain's work is on display at the Beverly McNeil Galleries in Destin. Her paintings range in price from $250 to $2,000. Her art can be found online at http://www.carolanncain.com/.