Online exhibition:
SMALL WORKS
Big brushes, small canvases. Every stroke counts on Dana Hooper’s small works. You can actually count how many multi-colored swipes form her fence and roosters. Impasto and brilliant color on 6x6 inches creates a vibrant yard scene because of, rather than despite, the size.
Marcia Burtt, Looking East, Late Afternoon, acrylic, 6×18 in.
Marcia Burtt’s brush sizes don't change when she paints small. She eschews detail no matter the size. But when working smaller, long-look vistas become glimpses up the coast or to the mountains. Tighter space emphasizes fleeting moments — what the eye captures in a quick glance.
Ann Lofquist, Santa Rosa Creek Road, oil on panel, 5.75×18″
In contrast to her highly detailed large-scale canvases, Ann Lofquist’s plein air studies on board are painterly. The small scale deconstructs her method with visible paint strokes and relatively unmixed color. Painted on location, they convey immediacy over contemplation.
Susan Petty travels across medium and scale with her small drawings and paintings. Detailed cross-hatched lines recreate found nests, watercolor washes render delicate flowers or a fading end of the day view. A common 8x10 canvas is used to translate tree trunks and limbs above a distant copse into a study of space in gold.
Marilee Krause, Inklings 8, 12x12 in., mixed media
White space and collaged, colored paper frame Marilee Krause’s inklings. Stains and whispery strokes of black ink convey light on water, with clouds above and islands in the distance. The viewer wonders how so little can convey something so vast.
Anne Ward, Early Morning in June, acrylic and oil, 10×8 in. Below: detail.
Big painting, small board. Multiple paintings can be cropped from Anne Ward’s 10x8 inch study of a June morning. Strung lights, cut flowers, the roof of the house next door, and a patterned tablecloth invite the viewer into the suburban narrative. A painting that is small in size only.
These artists use small scale for experimentation and excesses that won’t work big. And they subvert our expectations of the size needed to expand our understanding of landscape.
The paintings and photographs are also available for purchase and viewing at the gallery, 1-5pm Thursday through Sunday.