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William E. Shumway (William Shumway, Bill Shumway) is an artist in Corvallis, Oregon. Working mostly with acrylics, his work includes: landscapes, abstracts, figuratives, installations, and book covers. In addition to acrylics he works in the following mediums: ink, print making, oil and more.
"Call of the Mountain Demon" Herman Leung (archive.org/details/HermanLeungCalloftheMountainDemon) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 2.5 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ Video by The Fafnir Projects
I come from the east coast with a background rooted in abstract expressionism. Since moving to Oregon in the 1970s, I have also turned to landscape painting, often using interference pigments (mica-based materials) to add luminosity to my work.
In painting, I am interested in the harmonic relationships between mass, line and color, surface texture and the interplay of light. I also ask myself if the painting experience will take me to new perceptions, materials, tools or processes. Once that initial assessment is done, I paint very quickly. Often, I don’t look at the canvas surface directly while I am painting, focusing instead on the subject I am translating; feeling the moment and trusting my brushes and experience to find the rhythm that is needed. Once a painting is finished, I let it sit for a few days, make any corrections that seem obvious and then put it aside. The moment for that painting is now gone, the perspective of that day is now changed and it is time for another painting, another moment.