Lisa McShane Art

These are the sketches, 2 stages of underpaintings and final image for Trees, posted yesterday. I really like seeing the steps and stages of a painting when other artists share their photos so I've decided to take more of those shots and share them too. You can see that the layers of glazing that went on after the underpainting really softened the edges of everything. You can also see that nothing changed substantially after those first decisions were made. That's the nature of indirect painting: you carry it all through to the end. What that means is that I think through the composition and detail more carefully at the beginning than I would with direct painting. While the subsequent layers of color in the glazes can surprise me towards the end when the painting starts to really 'glow', there cannot be big changes in layout. As a result, I do a great deal more sketching before I begin: no more diving in, loaded paintbrush in hand. Lots and lots of sketches and edi...

Look up again ! Yes, just above these words. You'll see a new page with my thoughts on my endless experiments with art materials. These are just my opinions, based on my slightly compulsive need to research everything in great detail. Since I'm a little compulsive AND I paint a lot I go through a lot of all kinds of materials. I can try things out, use them up and try out something different.

Trees. Oil on Linen Panel. 12" x 9". This last couple of weeks I've been finishing paintings I started in January while learning indirect painting but hadn't yet finished. This is one of the first I started and one I hadn't planned to finish. But each day for the past two weeks I've added a layer of glazing to this painting until it began to glow.

My new Rosemary & Co brushes! Last month I read a post on Matthew Innis' Underpaintings blog about Rosemary & Co's mongoose brushes. Saturday my order of brushes arrived and I've been painting with them the past few days. They are lovely. They have shed 1 hair. Collectively. Rosemary & Co brushes are handmade in England. Sounds expensive, I know. Thing is, they're not. Go to their website, order the free catalog, and check out the prices. Remember that 17.5% VAT will be deducted as VAT is not charged on items shipped to the US. Shipping is just 5 pounds which today is about $7.50. I ordered 7 brushes. With shipping the total was around $87. I ordered a 1" sable/nylon brush for glazing and tried it today. Perfect. No splaying, it held an even and soft stroke. Yesterday I used the Ebony Filbert, size 4 and it was wonderful, soft, yet held the paint. The Ebony Flat size 8 is great for glazing smaller areas. The prize may be the mongoose. I now have the si...

This is me in the studio, working on the larger of my canoe paintings. I've got about 7 layers or so on this painting and it's crazy fun to work on! There will be many, many more layers of glaze before this baby is done. I'm applying for the Whatcom Open Studio Tour that happens in October and they recommended a shot of you at work in the studio. This is mine. As you can see, the natural light in my studio is lovely. To the left are my drying shelves for the small panel paintings. Larger canvases hang on the walls behind the camera. If you look close you can see the remote to my Nikon's shutter release on my easel tray.

House in the Fog. Oil on Linen. 20" x 16". So! Yesterday I asked whether or not I should craft better titles for my paintings and decided to title this one, House in the Fog , rather than Alger Fog 2 . (Why yes, there's an Alger Fog 1 , see it here .) Yes, titles! This is a painting I began in January but struggled with it a bit. So I hung it on the studio wall and started the smaller Alger Fog 1 . This is clearly an image I wanted to tackle and work through. I'm happy with Alger Fog 1 and it sold quickly at the '4 Women, 4 Seasons' show at the Blue Horse Gallery. My struggle with this one was with the surface. I was using one of Utrecht's acrylic primed stretched linens and it has a couple of issues: it has some bristles stuck in the primer and it is very, very, very absorbent. I was so annoyed with it that I wrote about it here . But you know, once there's a certain number of layers of glaze and scumbling, that all falls by the wayside. Now that i...

Samish Dawn 3. Oil on Canvas. 18" x 28". Isn't this lovely? It makes me happy to look at this one. Early dawn spreading over Lake Samish. Full of hope and promise. I sent this one out in my weekly email last Thursday and a dear friend pointed out that with Samish Dawn 1, 2 and now 3, perhaps I could come up with more creative titles! Point taken! I'd love to hear from you: what are your thoughts on titles? Do titles help engage the viewer or do they intrude into your interpretation?