Lisa McShane Art

Desert Dusk. ©2014 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 6"x12" This is one of a small series of desert nocturnes. These are images that I have seen countless times on long drives and road trips in the west: a silhouette of hills, vibrant sky, the lights of something that slips quickly by. I've always been interested in those glimpses of other lives, especially the quick images you see at dusk. Dusk is a time people transition from work to home, turn on lights and settle in. To me these quick glimpses seem like a view into another universe.

Horse Heaven Hills Evening. ©2014 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 20" x 30" We visited McBee Road atop the Horse Heaven Hills twice in one day last Fall, when the light was long and saturated. This is the view looking towards the Columbia River.

Valley in Winter. ©2012. Lisa McShane. 18" x 22". Oil on Linen. When I drive east in the winter across the Yakima Valley the sun sets early on frozen fields. It's not warm out but the sky is often glorious to the west.

Dryland Wheat on the Plateau . ©2011 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 12" x 24". SOLD. This small piece is the result of my experiments with painting wheat. This is the plateau that my great grandparents settled. It's always struck me as a strange place to settle. Around the time they moved there, Washington was a new state and this was a rocky, lawless area. The land was carved out by massive floods and where they live, water is a long way below the ground. Each farm is huge and is spread out along the tops of plateaus, separated by coulees. There are basalt outcrops in the coulees and rattlesnakes. It's hard to picture arriving in a wagon and thinking, "Yes, this looks like home." But it's the edge of the Palouse and according to my husband (a geologist) the soil is windblown loess (that's a good thing.) Now I think it's stunning.

Spring on Rattlesnake Ridge. Oil on Linen. 22 x 36. I make no apologies: I am painting and repainting Rattlesnake Ridge. Different seasons, different vantage points. This is spring, early morning, very clear air. I was there in May and found a great dead end where I could sit and sketch and take notes. I'd been seeking a place where I could see the river (that's the Yakima River) and some of the eroded basalts with the fields above (wine grapes and fruit trees) and a straight-on view of Rattlesnake.

Rattlesnake & River - in progress. Oil on Linen Panel. 12" x 16". This is just the first sketch for the underpainting, along with a wash of rose at the skyline and on the mountain. Tomorrow I'll continue to detail the underpainting, and put in the first layers of the sky and river. The river is the Yakima and along here, it's extraordinarily scenic. Over the years it's been fascinating to watch the orchards and then the vineyards cover this area.

Rattlesnake Badlands - in progress. Oil on Canvas. 22" x 36". I started 7 paintings yesterday! Yes, 7. I was inspired by my trip to Walla Walla last week and all are of eastern Washington. Of particular interest to me, and from all angles, is Rattlesnake Mountain along the Yakima River, south of the Columbia. This one depicts badlands and interesting geologic features in the foreground. In some areas, the foothills are lined with vineyards. On the Columbia side Rattlesnake Mountain is very dry and last weekend had patches of purple phlox. And by patches, I mean a sea of purple phlox. We drove home via the Hanford Reservation and stopped for Dan to look at phlox and for me to sketch the mountain. More later on all that. Yesterday was a busy day: I also stretched 3 large paintings and then sized them: 2 linen, one cotton canvas. I'll be putting an oil ground (Gamblin's) on them the next few days. I'll be gone for a week and a half and it will be nice to have them d...

Horse Heaven Hills 1 Study. Oil on Linen Panel. 6" x 8". This past couple of weeks I've worked on a number of studies of eastern Washington landscapes. I'm preparing for a large and interesting series of paintings over there and thinking through how to merge the quality of the landscape and light with indirect painting. Many of the yellow paints I like best are opaque and thus, not suitable for glazing. This was painted with an underpainting of Vasari Shale and Gamblin Transparent Earth Yellow. Over that I layered Vasari Naples Yellow (I have a really big, to-die-for tube of the stuff) and Transparent Earth Yellow mixed with a translucent Holbein gray. Some layers were toned down with the Shale to add a dusty quality. After all, what we remember as 'yellow' is often a brown. Oh, and I used a bit of that gritty Williamsburg Brown Ochre in this too. The sky is a mix of Williamsburg T-Z White, Gamblin Indanthrone Blue, Gamblin Manganese Blue Hue (sadly th...