Lisa McShane Art

Winter Lake. ©2012 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 20" x 16". It's been a dark winter here in the Northwest - we are all feeling the darkness and understanding gray in an entirely new way. These past few months I've been drawn to painting that dark, gray landscape, puzzling through the mystery of this area. A highlight for me these past few months has been a composition class I took with Deborah Paris . It was challenging - all of her classes are - but this one challenged me in a new way. Deborah had us draw the landscape onsite, then take the elements from those drawings and compose them into something new. No photographic reference, just drawings, notes and memory as reference material. This painting is a result of that.

Palouse Road. ©2012 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen. 36" x 50". I always have a painting of a road in progress in my studio. Now that this one is done, I'll be starting another one soon. This is the Palouse, an area of rolling hills in southeastern Washington. My cousin's wheat farm in Connell is on the very edge of the Palouse; the rolling hills are at their most distinct just north of Walla Walla. The soils are very productive for wheat and wine grapes and the patterns those crops create on the landscape add to the feeling that the entire world is rolling.

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.

Last year I ran across a painting called 'Cumulus' by a 19th century Russian painter named Fyodor Vasilyev. I loved it and decided to copy it. That's harder than it sounds. I started this painting in April, while at a workshop at Deborah Paris' studio, and signed it today. While working on it I narrowed the cloud, widened it, created a foreground, painted the foreground out, darkened, lightened and darkened the sky. 'Cloud', ©2012 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen Panel. 24" x 24".

Blanchard in the Clouds. ©2011 Lisa McShane. Oil on Linen Panel. 15" x 15". As the new year comes to a close the drizzle coats my skylights and I'm focused on finishing paintings of winter in the Northwest. This is what I often see to the west when I head home - the sun slipping under the clouds just beyond Blanchard Mountain, with the oyster gray clouds piling up overhead. Blanchard Mountain was an area I worked to protect for a number of years and it holds great meaning to me.

The Milwaukee Art Museum has a really interesting contemporary exhibit and then European art on their main floor. We went up to the second floor where there was more interesting (and some ordinary) modern art and folk art. My son checked out the basement and reported that there was nothing to see there. Since I hadn't seen any 19th century American art in the museum I asked him if there was anything that I would like downstairs. "Maybe..." In addition to the Inness there was this by Frederic Church. I really like the composition and color of this one. A Passing Shower . Frederic Edwin Church. 1860. Oil on canvas. But one of my favorite pieces in the museum was on the main floor. I went back 3 times to look again: Madonna and Child . Nardo di Cione. ca. 1350. Tempera and gold leaf on panel. Gorgeous saturated colors, lovely skin, all in remarkable condition. It takes my breath away.

Sunset in Georgia. George Inness. 1890. Oil on canvas board. Thanksgiving weekend my husband and I visited the Milwaukee Art Museum and tucked away on the 1st floor were 3 Inness paintings. A very nice collection. For those of us concerned with stray bristles, bits of our wool sweaters or pet hair in the paint - Inness' later paintings are full of that texture. Closeup of Sunset in Georgia , Inness. Autumn by the Sea . George Inness. 1875. Oil on Canvas. Close up of Autumn by the Sea , George Inness. Closeup of Autumn by the Sea , George Inness. Sunrise , also known as Sunset and The Rising of the Moon , 1888. George Inness. Oil on Canvas. Closeup of Sunrise , also known as  Sunset  and  The Rising of the Moon , 1888. George Inness. Oil on Canvas. Closeup of  Sunrise , also known as  Sunset  and  The Rising of the Moon , 1888. George Inness. Oil on Canvas. Closeup of  Sunrise , also known as  Sunset ...