Winter at Moret (d'apres Cullen)

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EXCEPT THIS WEEK... I'M RUSHING ABOUT...

I have a show running at the following location: Pot-au-Feu Restaurant,(The Old Train Station) 819-459-2080, Wakefield, Quebec. To purchase one of Shawcross's paintings please contact Jo-Ann Oosterman at jo-ann@yogo.ca or call 613-231-1073 in Canada. We accept VISA and Mastercard. PayPal as well.

Winter at Moret (d'apres Cullen)
S. Shawcross / Oil on canvas / 36" x 24" / SOLD

Again I do not do the photographs of my paintings much justice but if you ignore the camera glare and enlarge the picture you will see the passion of this painting with its cool foreground and warm sky caught glinting in ice-reflections. What mastery of subject! This is what the old masters can teach us. Cullen whose painting I've interpreted here became known as a "master of mood" and one of Canada's greatest. I will often interpret older painters to find their spirit and learn more than simply looking can tell. This view reminded me the Alonzo Wright Bridge as you cross over the rapids there and across the wintery water you can see houses tightly tucked in behind stark trees. I will do that painting one day. The paint I used in this one! Layers and layers of thick rich pigment. It could not be done otherwise methinks. But that is what I think. And that is likely because of my work as a sculptor. I imagine Cullen was more conservative. I have not sold this one and part of me is happy because it belongs above a couch in a serene winter house with a golden dog lying juxtaposed there...

This is what the Canadian Encyclopedia says about Cullen:

Maurice Galbraith Cullen, painter (b at St John's 6 June 1866; d at Chambly, Qué 28 Mar 1934). Cullen moved to Montréal with his family in 1870. There he began his art training as a sculptor at the Conseil des arts et manufactures... Like other artists of his generation, he went to Paris for additional training. He arrived there in 1889 and decided to become a painter; he attended the École des beaux-arts... By 1895, when Cullen returned to Montréal, he had darkened the tonality of the impressionist style learned abroad. In time he became the true interpreter of Montréal's cityscape, particularly of night or dusk scenes, invariably with shimmering lights. He was also one of Canada's great painters of snow. Cullen was a major figure in Canadian art. His gift was that of a romantic - an ability to capture light and mood... Cullen influenced many by teaching for years at the Art Association of Montreal. He showed in the first exhibition of the Canadian Art Club, an advanced group of the period, and was made a member in 1910.