Initially, most of us identify an object by its shape. Artist Joyce Condry recalls “a beginning drawing class decades ago, the instructor told us to look for shapes in our subject matter such as seeing a house as a rectangle, the roof as a triangle, an orange as a circle, etc. This month the artists at Gallery One go “back to basics” and explore “The Shape of Things”.
“Boathouse at the Wash Wood Life Guard Station", pastel by Laura Hickman has no road access far up the beach from Corolla, North Carolina. “I was attracted to this small "Hopperesque" white building that reflected the sun's rays from its round, square and rectangular shapes. It seemed almost like a still life sitting beside the ocean, waiting to be painted.”
The shape of things inspired Eileen Olson’s oil painting, “Imaginary Garden”. “Shape is one of five integral elements of a successful painting. I used shapes to form objects and to give them boundaries.” A color palette of greens, blues and orange is used for harmony and eye candy.
“Green sea turtles have the same protective shell as other turtles, only theirs is a slightly flattened shape in order to allow them to swim quickly and their legs are uniquely shaped like flippers or paddles. They cannot “hide” in their shells like other turtles, but can move swiftly in the water to escape predators.” “Sea Turtle III, acrylic by Dale Sheldon show a turtle is coming out of the surf to rest on the beach. The rocks mirror the shape of the turtle and the tracks in the sand accentuate the path from the water to the beach.”
The strong bold shape of a boat against a sky of rapidly expanding storm clouds inspired Cheryl Wisbrock’s en plein air acrylic “Open Window”. The contrasting powerful solid shape of the boat and the gaseous shape of the clouds compete for attention and the purposefully open window to prevent dry rot adds detail.
A variety of forms co-exist innature and adds meaning to the landscape. Lesley McCaskill’s watercolor “Pines and Tower” features the shape of a WW 2 tower built of concrete like a war helmet on a cylinder and feels strong and sinister. Nature provides tall pines (repeating the strong vertical shape) which softens and enfolds the entire landscape with a graceful green canopy and a soft flowing foreground.
“After a summer of painting outdoors, I love bringing everything inside to create a still life” says Marybeth Paterson.“In this “Blue Vase Series”, oil, I was drawn to the whimsical shape of the eucalyptus leaves against the interesting vase and the relationship to the fruit. Sometimes, it’s not about “smelling the roses”.
“Flowers are one my favorite subjects and provide countless shapes” remarks Jan Moffatt. “We don't think about it but we recognize (or identify) flowers by shape and color. “Garden Memories” acrylic is a memory of the warm days and abundant gardens of summer that were full of color and shapes.
