Out in the steep Wasatch Mountains of northeastern Utah, Vincent Carducci, landscape painter, searched for a good spot to do his next painting. He strapped on some skis and zoomed around with a large canvas and some painting supplies on his back.

The canvas acted unexpectedly as a sail, and Carducci's quest for a good spot to paint become an action-packed rollercoaster ride that was a bit more thrilling than he had wanted.

"I have to say that was a little insane," said Carducci, 44, of Lemont, whose oil landscape paintings are on display this month in East Pattee.

But those sorts of surroundings usually act as his studio. "I work out on the field. It's enjoyable. It's quiet," he said.

Back in late September, Carducci, a 1971 University graduate, was working in the fields, forests and mountains of Maine in Baxter State Park and Acadia National Park, where he encountered moose and black bears amid the forest wilderness.

"Several feet away, I saw this big black monster come out from the trees. I was overwhelmed by it," Carducci said.

Part of his Maine itinerary included a visit with one of his artistic contemporaries, Neil Welliver, whom he referred to as "the dean of American landscape painting."

They talked painting over several large martinis. "This guy is a mentor to a whole generation of painters, and I'm sitting there getting drunk with him," he said. "That was an interesting time."

But the primary Maine mission was not to drink in the woods; it was to paint them. "The leaves in Maine were by far more colorful than anything I've ever seen in Pennsylvania," he said. "The light there is very clear and distinct."

And the focus of most of Carducci's paintings is light. "I like the light of the outdoors, and what I do is interpret that light, rather than paint an object," he said. "That's why I often paint water. It does some very interesting things with light."

Jennifer Olsen, exhibition coordinator at Pattee, said that she's had a lot of good feedback on Carducci's current exhibit. "The public really appreciates his work because they can identify with the local scenes," she said.

This month's exhibit features scenes from around Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh streets and the Juniata River, where Carducci takes his small boat out and paints on the river all day.

"That river is very cold, but it's clean and there's a lot of life in it," Carducci said.

Carducci's indoor studio in Lemont, where he puts the finishing touches on his on-location paintings, is decidedly less rugged than his other workplaces. There is a television, a stereo, some couches, a coffee table and, of course, his paintings, which are lined up against the wall in various unfinished states.

He built the studio himself with the help of some Amish men from Rehrersburg. "The Amish are great workers for that rough and tumble construction," he said.

Carducci said he is thinking about moving into a bigger place nearby, where he can have one room for an office/gallery and another room for a "playpen." His current studio houses both of these. "I think I've outgrown the place," he said.

"I've lived like an animal for years. Now it's time to expand a bit," said Carducci, who became a professional painter right out graduate school without any other source of income.

"I just wanted to go out and paint, although it wasn't the easiest road," he said.

Having been painting professionally since 1977, Carducci is a ways down that road, set in his painting style but still working hard at it.

Carducci rejects the notion that his painting is a very peaceful, soothing experience.

"It can be very frustrating, because sometimes it just doesn't work," he said. "Then again, sometimes it all comes together."