Artist's Meditation Paintings Feature Soft Edges

John A. Woodard of Vashon presents Objects of Meditation through Aug. 2 at City Hall’s Gallery 2011.

Visitors viewing his paintings in Enumclaw’s council chambers will notice the way he uses dreamy images with soft edges and beautiful color. His art expresses his desire to find and represent beauty using traditional artists’ materials such as oil pastel and watercolor.

Woodard says that his landscapes are painted directly from nature.

“Through my work, I hope to convey to my audience the mystery, beauty and complexity of life as I know it,” he says.

The technique he uses is called watercolor-resist. First, he applies oil pastel in complex layering to achieve subtle color relationships and texture. Then he applies a watercolor wash. The watercolor resists the pastels, creating a unique style that is rarely used because it requires in-depth understanding of color and expert manipulation of a difficult medium, he says.

“Through the juxtapositions of objects, their negative and positive shape relationships, and color and value patterns, I attempt to draw out my inner emotions and convey them on a two-dimensional surface,” he says.

Woodard’s objective is to create paintings that are not only beautiful and peaceful, but interesting enough to bring viewers back time and time again.

“I believe a painting should be an object of meditation; a place one can return to and discover new things one has missed in the first viewing of the piece. A painting should lure the viewer into its world and give the viewer a place for his mind to play.”

Paintings he has on exhibit locally include Madrona and Alders in Winter, on sale for $500 each, and Ghost Tree, which has a price tag of $250.

For more information you can contact Woodard at 206-463-1646.

City Hall Entryway Display Case

Enumclaw High School jewelry and glass art student’s artwork are currently in the entryway display case at City Hall from June 2 to Aug. 3. A selection of items will be available for purchase.

Enumclaw High School is one of very few schools in Washington to house a hot shop for glass blowing and a studio space for other glass art manufacturing techniques. The high school also has a jewelry fabrication area. Stop by to see what these skilled young artists can do.

Gallery 2011 is located in the Council Chambers at Enumclaw City Hall. 1339 Griffin Ave. Enumclaw, WA 98022. Hours for the exhibition space are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Enumclaw City Hall is closed on national holidays. The gallery is closed to the public on Tuesday of each week for municipal court proceedings. For more Information, call the Enumclaw Cultural Programs office at (360) 802-0239.