Colleen Shull
Guild Member Salon Show
Colleen Shull ABOUT: I work from observation, and I’m interested in what exists between abstraction and recognition. My paintings explore the play of light reflections on water, windows, and mirrors. My subjects range from landscapes to still lifes made up of glass and abstracted floral elements to figures and self portraiture with mirrored abstractions of the figure. When I paint outside en plein air or inside the studio, I seek to translate my immediate surroundings. The paintings have become a record of the places I have traveled and lived. I work in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and gouache. My color palette is highly saturated and vibrant, with a focus on large forms and shadows. Gestural marks are layered with thick applications of juicy paint set against thin flowing watercolor washes. The observed space is simplified to a mix of organic and geometric forms as I try to capture the essence of the subject. Colleen attended the inaugural class of the South Carolina Governor ’s School of the Arts and then earned her BFA in Painting with a dual major in Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute. She completed her MFA in Studio Art in Dallas, Texas, at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts in 2011. Her work is in private collections across the country. THIS YEAR: I discovered so many new Northern Michigan beaches with my sister this summer, that despite being isolated during the pandemic, it became very inspiring for me to explore painting water at different scales than I had before. GALLERIES: Higher Art Gallery, Traverse City, MI CONTACT: Website, (231) 631-2105. Studio at Silver Lake Farmstead, 2640 NW Silver Lake Rd, Traverse City, MI 49685.
“Fresh Tracks,” Acrylic on panel, 2021, 12 x 16 in, $600. For this painting, I was inspired by the striking winter light that creates beautiful blue shadows on the snow when the sun comes out. I find that when I ski and ice skate, I’m always fascinated by the gestural lines made on the fresh snow like a drawing in the landscape. In this painting, I wanted to combine both of those aspects in the winter landscape.
“Fern Lake Reflections,” Acrylic on panel, 2020, 16 x 20 in, $800 This painting comes directly from a hike with my family on my autumn equinox birthday. As we approached Fern Lake from the trail, the intense peak color of the leaves included an entire rainbow and even some shockingly pink trees. The trees were like technicolor with a mirror reflection in the water scattered with lily pads. I took many photos and came back to the studio to paint a version that accentuated the pink tones and the crisp autumn blue sky.
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