Lisa McShane Art

Quinault Sun. Oil on Linen Panel. 2016, 20" x 30" Over the past several years I've worked with two Treaty Tribes in the Pacific Northwest and that work places me in some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. This winter I've begun to paint what I've experienced. Starting with this one of sun breaks over Quinault beach.

Lake at Night. ©2012 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 9" x 12". There's a cold and lovely mountain lake near me that I drive by often. There is very little public access to the shore so the glimpses I see are at 60 mph on Interstate 5. But this is what I see when I pass at night: a few lights reflected in the deep blue water.

Mountains at Dusk. ©2012 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen Panel. 15"x27". I've been sketching and painting in a beautiful valley just to the east of me for the past few months. This is the view. A friend has a property where I can draw and paint for hours. No-one stops by to ask what I'm doing or to tell me the great news that their niece paints watercolors. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) I love the quiet. There are ponds, rugged hills, a river and views of the North Cascades. Unlike much of the country, our winter has been cold and wet. The mountains have had a lot of snow and with the rain, we haven't seen them much. But every once in awhile they come into view, deep with snow.

Winter Lake. ©2012 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 20" x 16". It's been a dark winter here in the Northwest - we are all feeling the darkness and understanding gray in an entirely new way. These past few months I've been drawn to painting that dark, gray landscape, puzzling through the mystery of this area. A highlight for me these past few months has been a composition class I took with Deborah Paris . It was challenging - all of her classes are - but this one challenged me in a new way. Deborah had us draw the landscape onsite, then take the elements from those drawings and compose them into something new. No photographic reference, just drawings, notes and memory as reference material. This painting is a result of that.

Blanchard in the Clouds. ©2011 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen Panel. 15" x 15". As the new year comes to a close the drizzle coats my skylights and I'm focused on finishing paintings of winter in the Northwest. This is what I often see to the west when I head home - the sun slipping under the clouds just beyond Blanchard Mountain, with the oyster gray clouds piling up overhead. Blanchard Mountain was an area I worked to protect for a number of years and it holds great meaning to me.