Shirley G. Whelan

Medium

• Oil and Acrylic Paintings
• Photography

Email Address

Whel38@cox.net

Artist Statement

My artistic inspiration comes from the natural world. Some of my best moments are when traveling coastal areas discovering coves, inlets, sand dunes, rocks, reflections, sunlight, and shadows. I want to interpret the feeling of these images in my oil and acrylic paintings.

My primary influence was Herman Maril, a nationally recognized Maryland artist, who was my art professor at the University of Maryland. He encouraged me to paint free and big, to simplify elements to planes of color, and to explore possibilities.

As I began taking photographs for reference and ideas for paintings, I realized the artistic integrity of the images themselves. My photographs have been published in magazines and exhibited in juried shows.