Lisa McShane paintings at Smith & Vallee Gallery

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Light is the main element in my paintings. I use layers of oil paint and resin, usually over linen, to create deeply luminous paintings of light and the way it falls on land and water. I want my work to breathe and to convey the beauty of our world, though I don’t paint an untouched landscape. I paint a world that includes the impact we have on our lands.

In the west our world is increasingly altered by wildfire smoke and I work to capture that: the strange filter that a blanket of smoke casts on the land that changes the way we see color, bonfires near dry trees, strangely vivid suns and moons, and smoke pouring off a distant forest. Fire moves fast. It’s changing the west in late summer and I’m painting those impacts.

My work is increasingly abstracted. I find I have less to say about specific places, and more to convey about the embrace of light on landscapes, whether I’m looking down at a reflection on a river or at a wide horizon line. I rarely paint onsite; I want distance from the experience so that I can engage my memory and my mind. My images often start with a photo, then are abstracted through rough sketches, then drawings, and finally, the painting.

Lisa McShane, Okanagan: Fire on the Horizon, 2020, Oil on Linen Panel, 26” x 42”

Okanagan: Fire on the Horizon, 2020, Oil on Linen Panel, 26” x 42”

Lisa McShane, Lhaq’te’mish: Morning Fog on the Nooksack Delta, 2020, Oil on Linen over Wood Panel, 30” x 20”

"Lhaq’te’mish: Morning Fog" on the Nooksack Delta, 2020,
Oil on Linen over Wood Panel, 30” x 20”

Lisa McShane, Yakama: Autumn on the River, Oil on Linen over Aluminum, 20” x 24”

"Yakama: Autumn on the River", Oil on Linen over Aluminum, 20” x 24”

Framed photo 4

LISA MCSHANE
March 6, 2020 - March 29, 2020
Smith and Vallee Art Gallery
Edison, WA

FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS

Framed photo 5_West.sm
121AH05

METRO FLOATING FRAME

Profile: 124 Profile: 121
Type: floating frame for 1-1/2" deep paintings
Wood & Finish: ash various finishes
Purchasing Option: cut to size with wedges