Meet Elena Shackleton, this week’s top American Watercolor Weekly Ambassador!
Elena began her journey as an artist at an early age. She learned a love of painting and drawing, and was exposed to the teaching of many great artists and instructors from The Philadelphia Museum School, The Cape School of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There, she was exposed to artists of varied styles and methods.
Pivotal to her artistic development were the workshops Elena attended with Henry Hensche. His teaching solidified her color sense and an “Impressionist” eye for light. She went on to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with a concentration in painting and drawing. Her love of drawing and detail has lead to a distinctly realistic style.
“Color, light and form excite me. My work has developed as an expression of the reality in the world around me. Through pigment and brush, I try to capture that world. I want to take you out of your place and transport you, even if it is simply to the view of a building, a cool clay pot of irises, or a sunbeam on a cracked and peeling surface. I want you to see the beauty in my vision in these people, places and things.
I believe great art makes the ordinary sublime by elevating everyday objects. Yes, you may see a doorway, but there is, in my mind, a threshold of color and light meeting and clashing that is reality in the representation. I have, from a young age, painted en plein aire which informed my understanding of nature and light. My training in impressionism has given me a keen understanding of color. The world teams with subject matter and atmospheric effects. I want to capture them all and to convey to the onlooker my unique view of the creation around us.”
Become an American Watercolor Ambassador for a chance to be featured in an upcoming issue!
