“Harvest Time” 48″ x 36″ oil and metal leaf on canvas – $4,300
I have always needed some event or suggestion to make a change in my work – either in a new subject to paint or a technique. This summer my event is a show in a space that has some smaller walls as well as large ones for exhibiting my work, so I’m trying harder to paint smaller canvases.
I’ve always admired artists who seem to paint all sizes of canvases effortlessly and the smaller paintings appear as monumental as the larger ones, but I wasn’t comfortable painting the smaller sizes. I think that my interest in larger work started early when I was studying art at the University of Washington. Most of my art teachers were exhibiting artists who painted large and encouraged their students to do the same. I was soon very comfortable in covering a large white space and it became even more enjoyable when I started painting landscapes and gardens.
Since I’ve started painting oil and metal leaf, my compositions have changed in that I don’t need to create an illusion of distance in the painting. I realized that I could cut the metal leaf squares in smaller proportions for the smaller format and get the same look as the larger paintings. This concept made the conversion to smaller canvases so much easier.
The painting above is my most recent larger canvas in the “wine country” series and is currently exhibited at the Sheridan Lawrence Gallery. The painting below is one of the smaller pieces soon to hang in a three-month show at the Elsinore Gallery in Salem.
“Iris Garden” 24″ x 36″ oil and metal leaf on canvas – $1,200
