October 2 – November 11, 2010

Schomburg Gallery is pleased to present new works by Lee Webster Shaw.

View works

Artist Statement
I started working in watercolor a couple of years ago, but I have long been enamored of the technique. I’ve always admired architectural renderings done in watercolor and pencil. The lightness of the drawing in tandem with the solidity of the structures fascinates me. In my own work I tried to combine delicate pencil drawing, then more definition with the paint, and then multiple washes of colors. I started adding gouache when I found certain bright colors lacked depth. I found that the technique could be as loose and watery, or as tight and precise as I want it. A friend once said that the best things about watercolor paintings are the happy accidents. I agree, although I try not to leave too much to chance. Still, perhaps the most interesting elements occur by chance. For many decades I only drew, never painted, and I like being able to spend a lot of time on the detail, having drawing become a big part of the final result. Then I use loose strokes with a large loaded brush to overrule the precise fussiness of the detail. It’s pretty much like everything in my life, very structured and disciplined in some respects, and completely free and left up to chance in others.

Biography 2010
Lee Webster Shaw was born in the Midwest and has lived in Southern California for the last twenty-five years. She returns to a more than century old angling camp on a Minnesota lakeshore every summer, a place depicted in many of her watercolor paintings.