By
Merrill Shea
Piece description from the artist
Yes, that Edward: Edward Hopper. I loved the rich glow of the building facade, reflecting the setting sun, which recalled the feelings I've had when viewing Hopper's paintings.
The once-thriving town of Calumet is located on the northern Michigan peninsula in what's known as "Copper Country". The copper has long since been mined out and the whole peninsula has seen better days , but there are echos everywhere of a thriving past.
Hordes of Cornishmen migrated here in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to work in the mines. The sign on the pizza shop advertises "Mondays, Cornish Pasties".
I was pleased to learn that the original photograph of this scene received a nomination during the 14th annual International Color Awards.
This image is not a true watercolor. It was a photograph which I then reworked in the computer to produce a watercolor-like image, including the paper texture. I like the fact that I can get precise lines and edges when I want, like architectural details. In many ways, I think it's the best of both worlds.
Merrill Shea began his artistic career as a classical musician and then gradually migrated toward the visual arts. He has worked as a free-lance photographer in the commercial, non-profit and academic worlds throughout Eastern Massachusetts for over twenty-five years. He is entirely self-taught.
Merrill spends at least one month every year traveling primarily throughout New England and the Pacific Northwest. While his oeuvre includes urban imagery, his primary inspiration comes from the natural world. His TurningArt offerings represent a selection from his personal projects, which range from intimate and panoramic seascapes to interpreting the oldest living things on earth: the fantastically gnarled bristlecone pine trees that survive at twelve thousand feet above sea level.
Merrill continues to explore the varieties of color, graphics and texture that are possible within the photographic medium. Like many photographers, he has been influenced by the iconic black and white nature photography of Ansel Adams. In that regard, he has included identical images which he feels are effective both in color and black and white.
Merrill has always been fascinated with the medium of watercolor and has recently been exploring the possibilities of using various computer techniques to produce watercolor-like images from photographs that, in many cases, are indistinguishable from true watercolors.
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