Lisa McShane Art

Fall on Red Mountain. ©2014, Oil on Canvas. 22" x 44" Red and Rattlesnake Mountains are in the Yakima River valley of eastern Washington and they interest me in all seasons. The valley seems to capture and hold light and over the years, painting in the area, I've found some great vantage points.

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.

Along the Ridge at Dusk. ©2011 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 24"x36". I finished this painting today at noon, after working on it nearly every day for about 3 months. For a time I was posting daily images of it on Facebook, which you can see here , and I wrote about it on my blog here and here . After awhile I stopped posting the images daily for a few reasons. It seemed that the changes were too subtle to be really interesting and for most, they might be wondering why I was posting the same exact painting every day. And then at one point I needed to make corrections and lighten up and change an area and that makes the painting temporarily seriously ugly. I didn't want to alarm friends who might wonder why I was ruining my painting. While this was in progress I went back to sketch Rattlesnake Mountain and when I was in the studio the next day, quickly added what I needed to make the mid-ground work for me.

Across the Fields. ©2011 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 16" x 20." Just back from a quick trip to eastern Washington where the sun and light were - as they often are - amazing. I drove up to the top of McBee road in the Horse Heaven Hills to see dawn on the face of Rattlesnake Mountain. But it was good to be back in the studio and put the last glaze on the grasses of this painting of Skagit county, looking west late in the afternoon.

In progress - Rattlesnake dusk. This past few weeks I've been trying something out on Facebook: posting an image each day of the progress of a painting. I started with just the sketch and at the end of my day in the studio I pull out my camera and tripod and snap a shot. You can join the crazy fun by clicking here and then 'liking' my page on Facebook. As it turns out, it really doesn't influence my process. I don't paint differently because I take a photo each day. But I don't know that it's really all that interesting for those who follow me on Facebook. The nature of Facebook is that an image pops up randomly in their feed and they may see one every few days but without context unless they click on it. At the end I think I'll take each image and put them together in a quick slideshow. What I'd like is a 'flipbook' or 'time lapse' approach to quickly see the changes take place. If you know what program will work to make th...

Rattlesnake and River. ©2011. Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 16" x 36". Now it's finished. Just a little more work on the sky.

Rattlesnake and the River. ©2011. Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 16" x 36". I'm sure 99.9% of the artists who blog and who post paintings online wait until the painting is finished before they post the image. I'm not in that camp. Sometimes - and this may be one of those times - I post the image so that I can see how it looks at a distance, in a different format, from a different angle and at a tiny size. Yes, it's wet and I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to add clouds. Clouds in a landscape are such an integral part of the composition that they will be in my original sketch and then I add them in during the underpainting. But with this painting, I've just been uncertain. No need for feedback, I'll just be thinking about this.

This is a page from my sketchbook where I began to work out the concept and general shape of a new painting, Rattlesnake Twilight. Last fall a visitor to my studio suggested that I document a painting each day through to the finished painting because - unlike a direct painting - these go through a slow but dramatic change. So I'll be posting the photos of my progress on Facebook. If you don't follow me, please look to the right and click. That's where I'll be most diligent in sharing the images of progress. What you see here is simply the general land forms. After much thought I decided to include an immediate foreground with bunchgrass, to the left a close hill and then in the distance, the fields, the scabland, the Yakima River and then Rattlesnake. The decision to include a close foreground is always a big one for me as my preference is often the big sky and the vista. But I've been looking at the Luminist painters and the Tonalist painters a great deal -...

Rattlesnake Mountain from Mesa. ©2010 Lisa McShane. Oil on Canvas. 24" x 44". Working to capture that warm, late evening sun in eastern Washington. Rattlesnake Mountain is the prominent landscape feature for 60 miles or so in every direction and I've been painting it from all angles. This painting, Dusk Falls on Rattlesnake and Red , is from the other side.

Requiem for a Firefighter. ©2010 Lisa McShane. Oil on Canvas. 22" x 40". This June my youngest cousin died while fighting a fire near Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Washington. We went to his memorial service and it was one of those times in life when things come into sharp focus. We're a big family but all of my cousins were there; so glad to see each other. 300 or so neighbors from this very rural area were there to celebrate his life. He'd lived a full and vibrant life. He was one of those kids who was always in trouble. I think he totaled two family vehicles before he got his driver's license. But he grew up to own a trucking company, to serve as Fire Chief and to be loved by many, many people. Driving back to my mother-in-law's home that evening I was struck - as I often am in Eastern Washington - by the beauty of the area and the saturated light.

Dan and Sam the dog setting up our picnic View of Rattlesnake Mountain and Red Mountain from the top of the Horse Heaven Hills We spent a few days over in Walla Walla and Kennewick this last week and the weather was stunning. Friday night we drove up as far as our car could safely go on McBee Road in the Horse Heaven Hills for a sunset picnic. We then walked up to the top.  Fortunately a breeze picked up because a gazillion little winged ants had just hatched out and completely covered us with each step! It was looking like one of those romantic ideas gone wrong. But up at the top it was lovely. You can see the view to the north of Rattlesnake Mountain to the left and Red Mountain to the right. Behind us the high plateau of the Horse Heaven Hills sloped to the Columbia River. To the west, we could see Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. We had wine, cheese, bread, Sam rolled around and covered herself with dirt and sticks and the sunset was lovely.  The Horse Heaven Hills is ...

Dusk Falls on Rattlesnake and Red. Oil on Canvas. 22" x 44" This is an area of eastern Washington just south of where I grew up. As you're viewing it, the Yakima River is at your feet, the Horse Heaven Hills at your back. The Columbia River is both to the south and to the north. This is the region of Washington where the great red wine grapes are grown. In some areas the lower slopes have orchards but here it's the shrub steppe. Those are the things I'm thinking about when painting landscapes. You can see an earlier study of this on my blog here . It's been a week since I've posted. I've been hard at work painting and priming. It takes me about 4 to 6 weeks to finish a painting and about 4 to 6 weeks ago I had troubles with my new computer that took up my time. Hence a slight slowdown!

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.