January
“Street Life and Still Life”
NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery is pleased to introduce its newest member, Mary Woodcock Johnson, who notes, “I love living and painting in Saranac Lake because I enjoy a small-town atmosphere.
Painting the people and places of Saranac Lake has engaged me for the past 35 years.”
When asked about her art, Mary said, “I have always enjoyed painting street scenes and still lifes as subjects for my oil and watercolor paintings. They have a lot in common. Both allow me to explore color and form and their relationship within the composition and to their environments. It seems a natural combination for my first show as a NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery member.
Street scenes allow me to add figures! Painting gestures and the interaction of figures as they relate to each other has always interested me.
Figures and gestures create that sense of place that allows the viewer access to the painting. The tilt of a head, the closeness of two figures as they walk by a third or a figure walking down a dreary street all interest me.
Still Life is total control. Color, form, object and placement are all up to the artist. Georgia O’Keeffe said, “I hate flowers - I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.” Not so to me. I love looking for objects that have interesting form or color or patterns and then arranging them to suit my painting.
Art materials often find their way into my still life pieces. Is there anything more appealing in color or form than a Dixon Ticonderoga pencil?”