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Joanne Shellan knows that great art doesn't just
happen. It takes talent, hard work, and a type of obsession.
Shellan's obsession is for watercolor-loose, exuberant, and
passionate color to create works that are both emotional and
lively. She works "large and wet," starting with four-inch brushes,
thoroughly soaked 300-pound paper, and ample quantities of paint.
One of her favorite techniques is to paint without wearing her
glasses. "This helps me keep the big shapes in mind," she explains.
"A good painting is more than the sum of its parts. My aim is
to move the spark of humanity from the brush to the paper as
directly and authentically as possible, and I will do whatever
it takes."
Though she has been painting only since 1999, Shellan has won
numerous awards. During this year alone: " her painting "Blue
Harbinger" was selected for the Northwest Watercolor Society
Open Exhibition, where it won the International Artist Magazine/ADG
Printing Award, " "Lucky Helen" was juried into the Eastside
Association of Fine Arts Show and won the Chuck Webster Award,
" and "Trio" was chosen as the poster for the same show.
In addition, Shellan is featured in the October 2006 Northwest
Watercolor Society publication, "Hot Press." Shellan's work
ranges from landscape to still life to portrait. Her landscape
triptychs, some measuring nine feet wide, reside in private
collections throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In fact, multi-piece installations are a bit of a specialty
for Shellan, especially her popular box paintings. "I adhere
my painting to a two-inch-deep box, paint the sides with acrylic
to match the painting, and then varnish the whole piece," she
explains. "This produces a full wrap-around look. Your view
of the painting is direct, not filtered by glass or influenced
by the presence of a matt."
Many of the box paintings (floral, still life, and landscape)
are composed in groups of two or three, with images "leaping
the space" from box to box to create a coherent whole.
Joanne Shellan's watercolors have been featured at the Kirkland
Arts Center main gallery, Kindred Circle Art Gallery, and the
recent West Coast Paper show at Kirsten Gallery, in addition
to the Parklane Gallery in Kirkland, WA.
"If you feel excited about life, your paintings come out that
way," Shellan adds. "I feel grateful every day to have discovered
watercolor!" |
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914
water street, port townsend, washington 98368 | telephone (360) 385-3630