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Inspiration from shadows
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SHAMOKIN — In the Northumberland County Career and Arts Center Fine Art Gallery, there’s a charcoal portrait of Mattie, a miniature Doberman pinscher, with a toy in its mouth. Her owner, Susan Shurock, of Coal Township, spoke fondly of her Friday night.
“If you said, ‘Come on, Mattie,’ she’d come with you,” said Shurock. “She loved people.”
In March 2007, Shurock and her husband took Mattie to a veterinarian. Although originally diagnosed with a bad tooth, the antibiotics did not work. Upon further investigation, they discovered she had liver cancer.
“We had to put her down,” said Shurock. “It broke our heart.”
Soon after their pet’s death, they commissioned Sharon Goverick Swank to do a portrait of Mattie. To say Shurock was well-pleased with Swank’s portrait is an understatement.
“She couldn’t be any more alive than that,” reflected Shurock.
Swank is a mostly-self taught artist originally from Kulpmont, inspired from many things around her, including patterns in wood, reflections in water and shadows on walls. She first started showing her art in 1990 and has been doing so ever since.
“Most recently I’ve enjoyed doing shadows in the wood,” she said. “When I look at a tree, I see objects and characters. I personify the people when I see them coming out.”
Her first piece like this is displayed in the gallery. Although it’s a palm tree, it bares a striking resemblance to an ostrich. Another piece like this, she explained, looked like Paul McCartney as a musketeer to her.
“I absolutely love working with shadows in the woods,” she said. “It’s a challenge.”
Now living in Bloomsburg, she started using charcoal after she developed an allergy to the oil painting she preferred.
“Charcoal is close to oil in that it’s very forgiving,” said Swank. “With water color, or pen and ink, you make a mistake and it’s there. With charcoal, until you actually spray it, it’s forever moving, and I can change it.”
She said only two tools are needed when using charcoal.
“You have the dark, which are sticks and paintbrushes,” she said. “The light is your eraser. Most people think of an eraser as getting rid of errors, but I draw with the eraser as well.”
In her opinion, she said her dog commissions are her best work, including the one of Mattie.
The show will run until Sept. 26. The gallery is located on the bottom floor of the Northumberland County Career and Arts Center, Eighth and Arch streets. Regular gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays.
“If you said, ‘Come on, Mattie,’ she’d come with you,” said Shurock. “She loved people.”
In March 2007, Shurock and her husband took Mattie to a veterinarian. Although originally diagnosed with a bad tooth, the antibiotics did not work. Upon further investigation, they discovered she had liver cancer.
“We had to put her down,” said Shurock. “It broke our heart.”
Soon after their pet’s death, they commissioned Sharon Goverick Swank to do a portrait of Mattie. To say Shurock was well-pleased with Swank’s portrait is an understatement.
“She couldn’t be any more alive than that,” reflected Shurock.
Swank is a mostly-self taught artist originally from Kulpmont, inspired from many things around her, including patterns in wood, reflections in water and shadows on walls. She first started showing her art in 1990 and has been doing so ever since.
“Most recently I’ve enjoyed doing shadows in the wood,” she said. “When I look at a tree, I see objects and characters. I personify the people when I see them coming out.”
Her first piece like this is displayed in the gallery. Although it’s a palm tree, it bares a striking resemblance to an ostrich. Another piece like this, she explained, looked like Paul McCartney as a musketeer to her.
“I absolutely love working with shadows in the woods,” she said. “It’s a challenge.”
Now living in Bloomsburg, she started using charcoal after she developed an allergy to the oil painting she preferred.
“Charcoal is close to oil in that it’s very forgiving,” said Swank. “With water color, or pen and ink, you make a mistake and it’s there. With charcoal, until you actually spray it, it’s forever moving, and I can change it.”
She said only two tools are needed when using charcoal.
“You have the dark, which are sticks and paintbrushes,” she said. “The light is your eraser. Most people think of an eraser as getting rid of errors, but I draw with the eraser as well.”
In her opinion, she said her dog commissions are her best work, including the one of Mattie.
The show will run until Sept. 26. The gallery is located on the bottom floor of the Northumberland County Career and Arts Center, Eighth and Arch streets. Regular gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays.
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