"Spring Follows Winter" 31" x 35" Oil on Canvas (Collection of Tom Waits)      With their dramatic chiaroscuro, the paintings of Maureen Hyde reflect her lifelong passion for the art of the Italian Renaissance. Working from life, in the 19th-century Beaux-Arts tradition, she paints classically inspired landscapes, still lifes and portraits.      Hyde was born in Pasadena, California, but spent her formative years along the East Coast of the United States. She returned to California to attend college, eventually graduating from UCLA with an M.F.A. After living in the Provencal countryside and raising a family in rural Northern California while illustrating children's books, Hyde discovered the Florence Academy of Art, where she studied and now teaches. Hyde feels at home in the Tuscan countryside, where she says that her "creative spirit feels at home." Hyde's works have been exhibited extensively in Europe as well as in Boston, New York and now Los Angeles.