Loose lines of oil form valleys and skies, meeting at a hazy horizon somewhere in the center of the canvas. A strip at the bottom in a cooler color could be a water-filled track, a stream, or whatever the imagination sees in the paint.

That' s the intent of the abstract landscapes of Nicholasville artist Patrick Adams. Some of his recent art work, focusing on lines and texture to create his vision instead of just reproducing common shapes and structures, will be on display in Gallery One in Nashville on Aug. 13 in a show called "A Delicate Balance."

"It's very open-ended, and there's a lot of interpretation that goes along with it," Adams said of his current body of work.

His collection of abstract landscapes began around 2000, and he has dabbled with "a little bit of everything," including pure abstraction, linear art and realism.

Adams, now 40, was born in Worthington, Minn. He is married to Terre, and they have three children: Margaret, 15, William, 13, and Abigail, 9. His interest in art, both through painting and music, began at a very early age.

"I think I've always known that," he said, regarding when he discovered he was an artist.

He started selling paintings in the fifth and sixth grade to his teachers, and he also pursued musical interests. That got halted when he split his lip open playing trumpet and couldn't play until it healed.

"It's taken years and years to finally play again," he said.

He is playing again, though, and he has an album coming out in a couple of weeks titled Solipsis, a Greek term meaning "to revolve around oneself." That's because Adams plays everything on each track, he said.

Adams studied art at Winona State University and completed graduate art studies at the University of Kentucky, but his style then, while still occasionally abstract, did not have the same focus on landscapes that he creates today. That came about after he won the Al Smith Fellowship, a monetary award given to Kentucky artists, and decided to use the money to take his family to France.

"What really interested me about France is the way history is up front," he said.

After so much culture brewing for so many years, each generation leaves a mark on the French landscape in ways that the much younger American culture can't. He was especially interested in how layers of history show up in architecture, he said. The art that followed after his journey to France used the same layering concept.

"Much of the paint ends up being scraped away or hidden beneath successive layers," he said in a 2003 artist statement. "More often, the layers which are added are translucent and only partially obscure earlier actions."

When he returned to the states, he began painting "suggestive, not exhaustive" landscapes that use architectural elements to contain the abstract forms, making certain elements recognizable (like skies, ground, water, etc.) but the whole of the piece open to interpretation.

His art work uses elements from various artists, including: the loose painting of Corot, a French landscape artist; the "muddiness" of Soutine, a French expressionist painter; the lines of Diebenkorn, an American abstract expressionist; the pallet and techniques of Auerbach, a British abstract expressionist; the structure of American abstract expressionist Kooning; and the simplicity of Rothko, a Russian abstract expressionist.

His upcoming showcase in Nashville is one of six solo exhibitions with his landscapes. His work is frequently on display at Ann Tower Gallery in Lexington and Chapman Friedman in Louisville, and has also been in showings at Lydon Fine Art in Chicago.

"Patrick is an extraordinary artist," said Ann Tower. "He's a wonderful colorist, and his work speaks to many people. He uses an interesting mix of complexity, in the many layers of paint, and simplicity. People find his work to be both engaging and soothing."

Adams is one of the most popular artists represented in her gallery. She and Adams have known each other for about 15 years since he was in graduate school and a student of Robert Tharsing, Tower's husband.

"Patrick is wonderful to work with. His work is first rate, and he's very productive, always willing to go the extra mile," she said. "For example, if I suddenly need a painting to show a client that he has, he's willing to deliver it to me immediately. He's very good-natured and helpful. I like and admire him very much."

His art has also appeared in several group showcases including Gallery 5017 in Fort Worth, Texas, the Huntington Museum of Art in Huntingon W.Va. and the Annex Gallery in Charleston W. Va., Chapman Friedman, Ann Tower and Gallery One.

"I'm always just kind of on the edge of abstraction," he said.