Lisa McShane Art

Tenino: Flooded River; Dalles at Dusk , 2020, Oil on Linen, 24" x 60". Shown here with Andrew Vallee sculptures. Hey check out this great blog article from Metropolitan Frame! It's an interview of me and where things are at with my work, given the virus. Metropolitan Frame is a custom frame shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota that produces most of the frames I use these days, including the one above. Their work is flawless and fits my work well. Click here for the article, #artinthetimeofcorona

Art Opening, March 7, 2020. Photo © Eugenie Frerichs My recent show at Smith and Vallee Gallery  opened March 7th, right as the Coronavirus was arriving in our region. The gallery closed on March 16th and the show is just now coming down. Despite the difficulties, it was a deep pleasure to show this body of work. A painting show takes over a year to produce and involves countless hours of contemplation, solitude, deep focus, work. Following that there's more contemplation and deep focus as you think through how to talk about what you do and created. I'm proud of this show and so grateful to the buyers for their support. Be well everyone! Lisa

'West'. 2019, Oil on Linen, 36" x 48"  Today is the last day of the Seattle Art Fair ! This painting, West, is on display at Smith and Vallee Gallery's booth D-59. The entire show is fantastic and I'm delighted to show my work with such remarkable artists. You can see more of my work at my website, www.lisamcshane.com, or on my inventory site .

South Fork Skagit, 2018. Oil on Linen. 30" x 48" Studio talk: I've spent some time lately trying to figure out how to do a better job photographing paintings in my studio. I expect this is a puzzle that plagues other artists too. So I googled and found a lot of advice, then followed some good advice. Here's a few tips on Artwork Archive's blog. Here's the great advice from artist Marc Dalessio that I followed  with a few changes. I ordered lights on Amazon (about $75), but haven't ordered the polarizing sheets for them. Instead I place the lights on the same plane as the painting. I already used Lightroom to edit photos and so I ordered the x-rite i1 + the color checker. That seems to really help a lot. I've been using my Olympus OMD-EM5 with the magical Panasonic 25mm lens. I had a cheap tripod that I bought years ago at Costco. My next upgrade will be to a full frame camera (Nikon D750) and a short telephoto prime lens for more detail.

Samish Point. Oil on Linen. 38" x 35", 2018. November 3rd is my next art opening at Smith & Vallee Gallery , called 10 miles to the Moon. I'm thrilled to be showing with Andrew Vallee's sculptures. We're hosting an artist talk at 3:30 with the show opening at 5. JOIN US!

Thumbnail sketches I usually try a series of thumbnail sketches before a painting in order to sort out small to large shifts in composition and to think through values. With these I wanted to think through the orientation of the painting, proportion and the line of the water on the beach. This is an area I see often as it's the point of the island and a short walk through the forest from my studio.

This spring I was honored to be featured on Brambleberry's blog. Anne-Marie and her brilliant photographer visited my studio, talked with me about my work, my supplies and my process and...well, see for yourself here. Anne-Marie Faiola is a dear friend and a creative and brilliant businesswoman. I loved seeing my studio and work through her keen business eye.

North Beach Pond. 2018, Oil on Panel. 24" x 18". This is the pond on the north side of Samish Island . It's just a mile from my studio, walking through the forest. I see it often, all different times of day. To see paintings at Smith and Vallee in Edison, please click here.

Joseph Canyon Road. 2018. Oil on Panel. 24" x 18" Just finished, this is from a sun drenched visit to northeast Oregon last summer. We stayed on the edge of Joseph Canyon at the Rim Rock Inn . It was a deep pleasure to watch the light on the grasses and across the canyon early in the morning and at the end of the day, like in this painting.

My most read post is for software to inventory artwork. Several years ago I found one that works well, and they continue to update it to make it more useful for artists, and so I've stuck with one: Artwork Archive. You can click through to see my public page (super useful for showing people what's available, what the sizes are and how much they cost): https://www.artworkarchive.com/artwork/lisa-mcshane Like this one, Joseph Canyon Dusk. Joseph Canyon Dusk. 2018, Oil on Panel. 24" x 18"

Rain on Ortygia. 2018, Oil on Linen Panel. 30" x 35" The sea. This is the Mediterranean Sea from Ortygia but it could be just outside my door. We were there in December, traveling at Christmas. It was delightful. This painting is in the Bird Show at Smith and Vallee Gallery for the month of February. Go! We are awash in birds in Skagit County and this show celebrates that.

Moonrise at the Canyon. 2017. Oil on Panel. 18" x 24" This last September I spent a week as the Artist in Residence at Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument . It's a remarkable place. This is the first of many paintings from that experience.

'Padilla, looking west at dusk', 2017, Oil on Linen, 6" x 20" 'Winter morning, east towards Allen', 2017, Oil on Linen, 6" x 15" Such gratitude to all for a great show at Smith and Vallee Gallery . I'm especially thankful to have my work represented by a brilliant curator and staff and so I created these small paintings as gifts. A year ago I moved into my new (LARGE) studio surrounded by forest and water and have watched the changing season with interest. Especially the change in light. Just a few months ago I spent my late afternoons in the bitter cold surrounded by duck hunters' trucks watching dusk deepen across Padilla Bay. Now the sun sets in a completely different place and until summer arrives, I don't have a great vantage point for it. But dawn is always right out my bedroom window.

'Chopaka Sihouette'. Oil on Linen. 20" x 16" I have a small series I've been completing from a wonderful week at Palmer Lake last summer. So satisfying.

'Winter Sunset, Padilla Bay'. Oil on Linen. 30" x 42" This is a recent painting that will be on display at my upcoming show at Smith and Vallee Gallery in Edison. It opens at 5pm on March 4th!

'Gooseberry Point.' 2016. Oil on Linen Panel. 9" x 24" Lately I've been painting small studies on scraps of panel, left behind from larger paintings. This one was the right scale for the kind of sound view I love: the long low islands and points extending into the Salish Sea.

'Arizona Road', 2016. Oil, wax, carbon on linen. 30" x 40" So many great roads in Arizona. This is just one.

'Bellingham Bay'. 2016. Oil on Linen Panel. 30" x 40" This is my running route - along Bellingham Bay through Boulevard Park and along the walkway. It's one of those great, big open views that it's hard to get in Bellingham and a great place to see storms move in.

'Sound, while riding the train'. 2016. Oil on Linen Panel. 30" x 40" If you time it right, you can be on the left side of the train heading north out of Seattle at sunset. It's spectacular. All the way to Vancouver, it's a great view and probably the best way to see the coast.

After the flood, after Ellie. Oil on Linen Panel. 16" x 20. Great news: I've got a show scheduled for next March at Smith & Vallee in Edison. My focus will be on the Salish Sea - it surrounds me. This painting is of a flooded field near Lummi Nation.