Big Works

Inside Newburyport Art Association
I recently exhibited paintings in Newburyport, MA, along with a dozen or so other artists.

Ed Touchette: Downtown

Large being comparable, the works were at least 36" x 48", mine were 40" x 50"
Patricia Schappler: Only, acrylic on canvas

and I would venture to say a small group were larger yet.

Caroline West: Under the Yoke, mixed media watercolor with gouache

The thing about large work, is that it is exactly that...viewed easily at a distance, tending toward larger strokes,

Cheryl Dyment: The River Takes Over

expressive,

Ed Touchette: Garden Work

sensual,

Michael Cunliffe Thompson: Moon Over Deer Island

and in this show, still human scale, still intimate.

Lully Schwartz: Avenue
I love large work on principal, not across the board, but in theory because it is big enough to absorb us as we view it,

Mike Dorsey: Plum Island Sky, oil on canvas

allowing it to wrap around our bodies, encompass us,

Patricia Schappler: Shelter, acrylic on canvas

and bring us unhesitantly into another space, including us in a particular vision.

The work here was both familiar and exciting, representational, and non-objective, dramatic, and quiet...a pleasing combination of ideas and thought processes that welcomed the viewer, encouraged thinking, and allowed enjoyment of surface and environment.