Where artists get their inspiration is a topic of endless discussion, in part because it’s different in every case. For Jon Jay Cruson, who came to Eugene from Sacramento in the 1960s to attend the University of Oregon, inspiration comes from the land — but not any one landscape.

You won’t catch him off the highway with an easel working plein air , trying to catch the light before it changes. In preparation for his exhibition Yellow Fields , on display at White Lotus Gallery until Nov. 29, he took about four trips. Each time he drove all day, leaving in the morning when it was still dark. And then he continued the drive to just past sundown.

For Cruson, inspiration doesn’t come from any one hill, road or field. It comes from all of them.

He’s worked this way a long time. We met last

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