With oil as his primary medium, Chester builds the surfaces of his canvases with many layers of paint and glazes. The physicality in the treatment of these canvases is closely connected to Chester's sculptural experience and sustained relationship with his natural surroundings. Lines are often scratched and carved into the paint, exposing the ground
beneath.
The luminosity that highlights the individual landscapes is the essential element that threads Chester's works together. His paintings are not individually derived from specific locations but are rather suggested fragments of recollection, glimpses of memory. Chester notes, "the subjects of my oil paintings are restful places and retreats found in the natural landscape – country fields, flowers, forests, horizons, clouds and waterscapes. These impressions are painted from memory – they are my visual diaries; peaceful mementos celebrating beauty"