Lisa McShane Art

Cornwall Beach. Oil on Linen. 9" x 12". This is very near my house, just a walk through downtown Bellingham on Cornwall Avenue to the waterfront. There's a pile of riprap that makes for a perfect place for people who know their way around to sit and watch the sunset. The clouds lately have been fantastic.

Slough. 9x12. Oil on Linen Panel. Last Friday I went out painting with Karen Epperson, who I met in the workshop I took in July. We had a lot of fun painting from one of the docks in La Conner. The downside of painting on a dock? Things can slip through the slats to the slough below. As I immediately discovered, the helpful gray plastic viewfinder for plein air painting fits between the boards. Since we were next to downtown La Conner our easels added to the ambience but it did remind me of this hilarious tshirt,   'Critic Be Gone .

Mill Creek Field. Oil on Linen Panel. 9x12. This is the painting from my plein air session along Mill Creek Road near Walla Walla last week. What was most instructive to me about this session was watching the light change in the furrows in the field. Depending on where the sun is, and the angle of the shadow, the furrow can be the brightest point of the landscape, after the sky. 

Near Starbuck.  Back from 3 days of meandering around southeast Washington State, painting and taking photographs. The top one looks very much like my larger paintings, only with my easel standing in the painting. Doesn't it look lovely? It was hot and so windy that I had to tie my palette down with a bungie cord. My easel in a field of chickpeas, Mill Creek Valley, the Palouse This was this morning, just outside of Walla Walla in a gorgeous spot. I painted a wheat field while standing on little chick pea plants. They popped when I walked! The backstory: Sunday we had a family gathering at my cousin's wheat farm outside of Connell. I was eager to go, to see my cousins and to see the light and the wheat fields. Since it's harvest, the light in the area literally glows from the yellow of the fields. My husband, a geologist, and I planned to paint, see geology and camp. Fun! But there was a slight glitch. Well two. First, we took a remote gravel road on our way to t...

The Window in the Red Building. Oil on Canvas. 16" x 20". This is the painting I started in August during Bellingham's Plein Air Paint Out . I finished it up in my studio this week. Years ago I'd worked in the building across the alley selling kitchen cabinets. When times were slow I'd gaze out the window and look at the window. Whoever lived there had plants - really an entire garden - on the windowsill and fire escape and I loved the look of it. The green plants against the red brick with the white curtain. I never saw anyone there but it was well tended. I would sketch the building and think what a great painting it would make. I worked on it for hours yesterday and then this morning Sharon Kingston , an exceptional local artist, came over and helped me out with a critique. I tightened things up in a couple of areas and it's done and ready for the show! The show? November 6th, Blue Horse Gallery, downtown Bellingham, 6 p.m. See you there!

I was back out painting at the corner of C and Holly in Bellingham this morning. It was a busy day for folks who live outside in Bellingham, as the mission has a free lunch just up the street. Many of the people passing by recognized me from yesterday and stopped to check out today's painting. Yesterday I was struck by the number of homeless people I chatted with while painting, including many young teens. I was surprised how many stopped to say hello, see what I was doing and talk about drawing and painting. A number of them said how much they used to like to draw. Last night, in talking over my day's painting adventures, my husband and son suggested I do a portrait of the homeless people in the park. It's a great idea and I'd like to do that. I asked one young man, Kin, if I could paint his portrait. He said he didn't think he could sit still for that long but that I could take his picture. That's him, above. He said everyone calls him God. And indeed, a group...

Today was the Plein Air Paint Out in Bellingham. This was organized by Trish Harding of Studio UFO , the Blue Horse Gallery and the City of Bellingham. It was lots of fun. The top painting is mine, and you can see the building I'm painting. When I heard about the Plein Air event I knew instantly that I would paint this building. There's a story, of course. Twenty years ago my husband and I moved back to Bellingham so that he could pursue a Masters of Science in Geology. I worked at the local building supply store for 2 1/2 years, selling kitchen cabinets, to support the family. When it was quiet in the showroom I'd gaze out the back window and look at the brick building and the windows with geraniums on the sills. I was fresh out of art school and thought often of painting the window. Finally did that. The bottom painting is of Cindy and Charles, my plein air painting neighbors. They were great and were both painting the most interesting old building on C street. Cindy...