Totem

Totem 2
Wayne McDowell
oil on canvas, 36x24 in.
Chase Gallery

Discovery via a gift subscription to Art in America. Like most magazines, Art in America has a slew of ads. In this particular case most of the ads are for gallery shows. I've gotten into the habit of dog-earing not only interesting articles but also works featured in the gallery ads. It has turned into an additional source of inspiration for my art of the day as well as an introduction to many new artists.

A landscape for today. McDowell's paintings are quiet but dense, they appear to have (as much as I can tell in a reproduction!) a light impasto. Most of the landscapes in his current show are seascapes that consist of a low horizon line, the sky filling up most of the canvas. I like the addition of dimension in this particular painting. The thin, slightly gnarled trunk of the tree appears to be just a pedestal for the leaves which look like more like a cloud.