My Current Artist Inspirations

I started to do some research of how other artist have used the sky as a source of subject. To my surprise other artist had some very interesting ways of abstracting the vast blueness above our heads.

Georgia O'Keeffe, Sky Above Clouds III/Above the Clouds III, 1963, Oil on canvas , 48 x 84", Private Collection, © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.

 I have been a fan of Goergia O' Keffe's painting for awhile, and I was excited to reintroduce myself to her painting Sky Above Clouds III/Above the Clouds III . I admire the way that she abstracts nature as if it's communicating a sensation. She has admitted ",the abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint."

Wheatfield with Cypresses, 1889, Oil on Canvas, 28 7/8''x 36 3/4'' (73.2x 93.4cm), Vincent Van Gogh, Purchas, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 1993

Vincent Van Gogh's painting Wheatfield with Cypresses inspired my paintings in it's texture and boldness of marks. I have been mimicking his impasto style of painting by laying thick layers of color on the canvas.

Skyspace, James Turrell, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I had a chance to experience James Turrell's Skyspaces when I studied in Philadelphia at the academy PAFA.  On a field trip the teacher drove my class out to a meeting house called Chestnut Hill. We arrived an hour before sunset happened. When the performance started we watched as a whole in the ceiling was reviled. The reminder of the ceiling became illuminated with LED lights and they changed colors that complemented the sky as the sunset. I'm impressed with his ability to bring the viewer into reality, and to make that actual moment the piece of art. I'm trying to capture that same idea where the viewers perception of space is present in the here and now.

I'm open to letting my interpretations of the sky to keep evolving. To use my experience as a tool in the creation of my art.


Check out some of my other sky inspiration at my Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/wainwrightmegan/artist-skys/

Check out my website to view: www.meganwainwright.com
Look at In Progress Images and Updates on Shows: https://www.instagram.com/roaming_creator/

Showing my Paintings at Stumptown Coffeehouse

I've been honored to show my oil paintings this last April and May in SW Portland at the original Stumptown Coffehouse! My solo show titled Walking in the Wilderness was my first professional art showing since I graduated a year ago from Oregon College of Art and Craft.

I was truly honored to have worked with May Barruel a Portland art curator. I learned a lot from her about installing my art, and editing down pieces so that the show was viewed cohesively. She encouraged me to make new paintings for the show. So in the months preparing for the show I created Strawberry Mountains, Exploring the Blue of Distance, and Underneath the Trees. When all of my current and older paintings where installed at Stumptown I was able to see the space transformed.

The abstracted landscape paintings give the space that feeling I get during my hikes. My bold palette and thick brushy strokes gave the room a liveliness. I hope that my viewers are brought to new and unexpected realms of imagination.

Currently, I'm preparing for some more shows happening around Portland. So, stay tuned!

Check out my website for updates: http://www.meganwainwright.com/

Follow my instgram for in progress shots of my art: @roaming_creator

#walkinginthewilderness #oilpainter #abstractart #portlandart #artandaboutpdx #gamblincolors #stumptowncoffee

How to Paint with Texture

 Lately texture has added a three dimensional quality to my two dimensional imagery. 

Detail of "Strawberry Mountain", 45in x 31in, Oil on Canvas, Work in Progress

My technique is to use an oil painting medium called Cold Wax. Once the medium has been mixed with the paint I sculpt shapes using a flexible pointed tool (purchased at Blick Art Supplies), a palette knife, and an old short hardened brush. 

Now, it's all about experimentation! Here are some examples of the way that I use texture when oil painting. 

Detail of "Strawberry Mountain", 45in x 31in, Oil on Canvas, Work in Progress

Detail of Fallen Tree, 14in x 11in, Oil on Canvas, 2/7/2016

 View more of my images at: http://www.meganwainwright.com/ 
Also see more in detail works in progress at my instagram: @roaming_creator https://www.instagram.com/roaming_creator/

#walkinginthewilderness #gamblin #wip #oilpainting #portlandart #pdxart #texture #coldwax

Megan Wainwright's Thesis Gallery Show May 2015

Five Places for Summer Plein-Air Paintings and Hikes

I'm eager for the weather to get just a little bit nicer, because this summer will be all about Plein-air painting! 

1. Twin Lakes

Location: Bowl of the Woods (Mt. Hood National Recreation Center) 

I visited these lakes two years ago on my first backpacking trip. Since then I've been dreaming about the moment of return to this magical location. The blue lakes and green forest would make a painting of lush colors and loose brushy marks. 

Photo By Ryan Pierce

In Progress Studio Images for the Painting "Exploring the Blue of Distance"

It's been a long winter in the city making me ready for the summer hikes and backpacking trips that fuel my creativity. Despite this feeling of being stuck I still have found my own ways of "Walking in the Wilderness" without being in the nature. On a sunny day (which is rare for Portland) I find myself starring into the sky. The blue is always endless as if I could spend my entire life wondering into that distance.

My Observations of the Sky

When I started my research for this painting I was surprised to read that Rebecca Solnit was also spending a lot of time thinking about the sky. In her book "A Field Guild to Getting Lost" she explains her feeling of the sky in a theory she calls "The Blue of Distance". For Solnit the color blue represents a space which is unreachable and yet desirable. She explains in the book, "blue the color that represents the spirt, the sky, and water, the immaterial and the remote, so that however tactile and close-up it is, it is always about distance and disembodiment."page 159

My practice includes a lot of time mixing color. Here you will see an image of my palette for the painting "Exploring the Blue of Distance".

An in progress image of "Exploring the Blue of Distance" painting  

Exploring the Blue of Distance
Oil on Canvas
38in x45.4in
Feb 2016

To view more images visit my website http://www.meganwainwright.com/
To view more of my work in progress visit my instagram @roaming_creator

#walkinginthewilderness #wanderlust #oilpainting #gamblin #gamblincolors #painter #inspiration #wip #pdxart #portlandart #contemporaryart

Oil Painter and Printmaker Inspired to Make Images of Nature

I paint landscapes that are documenting my experiences with the northwest wilderness. To structure my images I use resources of sketches, writings, photographs, and found materials from my hikes or backpacking trips. Through the process of manipulating an image, a different kind of representation occurs. By using abstraction, I investigate new ways of seeing nature.

As I walked into the wilderness I entered a moment of being more aware of the simple forest. In the surroundings mountains extended for miles both directions and wrapped around my body. I looked up and saw the tall Douglas Fir Trees with branches that made shapes of various triangles. Than I glanced down at the decayed natural materials that created an asymmetrical pattern beneath my moving feet. When making the images I let myself get lost and trust my instinct. Rather than creating a photorealistic image, I make an illusion that brings the viewer to unexpected realms of imagination.