Rod Chase is known to his collectors for painting photo realism at its finest.

This talented artist takes hundreds of photographs of each of his subjects, combining them with historical photographs, to produce a timeless quality in each of his works, "Being a photo-realist, I am dependent on finding accurate reference material for each painting," the artist explains. Chase works with acrylics on canvas, spending hundreds of hours on each painting as he strives to present a fresh and unique view to familiar subjects.

Chase is very excited about painting our nation's capital. On a recent trip, he spent a week photographing Washington's landmarks, including The White House, The Capital and the Supreme Court building among others. Rising early each day, Chase photographed the dramatic light of sunrise, and late in the day he revisited several sites to capture the soft, moody glow of twilight. Between photographic sessions, he researched old photographs at the National Archives and the the Library of Congress. The resulting paintings are a combinations of this research and the artist's unique ability to lend drama and simple elegance to his subjects. The Foundation of Freedom series was created in this manner over the past year and a half.

The artist and his wife, Debbie, have five children and reside in the Texas Hill Country.