The Mari Michener Gallery will be host the collection “Watercolor Paintings” by Janet Nunn, an award-winning watercolorist, until April 22.
Nunn’s exhibit is a colorful collection of 65 watercolor paintings. This watercolor display features paintings of cityscapes and landscapes from Nunn’s trips around the United States and parts of Europe. Although the exhibit is located among a cluster of windows that flood the area with natural light, each painting still brightens the space where it is hanging. This is because Nunn’s paintings were all created using vibrant hues of bold pastel colors.
The paintings included in Nunn’s watercolor exhibit show evidence of Nunn’s illustrious and realistic style. This style is achieved through Nunn’s use of lively colors combined with simple lines that lack detail. In “Winter String” a lack of detail is used to create a serene landscape with violet tints transitioning into a blue foreground. Then, in her painting “Catfish Joe,” Nunn uses expressive colors and simplistic lines to create a realist feeling, intense enough that the viewer can be transported underwater with the wide-eyed catfish.
The paintings with particularly eye-catching colors are Nunn’s flower paintings, which almost appear to be abstract. However, the lack of details in the lines and on flowers are replaced with an exuberance of color that creates crisp shapes and deep contrasting shadows. Together, these affects add a realistic element, almost making it possible to reach out and touch an abstract petal. A great example of this intensity can be seen in Nunn’s painting “Full Bloom”, which features bright shades of red, yellow and orange.
Another area where Nunn’s paintings lack detail can be seen in her paintings that include people. None of the people in Nunn’s paintings have distinguishable faces or other identifying features. This technique keeps the viewer’s focus on the simplistic cityscapes and landscapes that could otherwise seem underwhelming. This technique is also evident in Nunn’s painting “Sunday in September,” in which a group of people stand waiting to load a city bus, peering down a street lined with simplistic yet colorful skyscrapers.
Nunn’s watercolor is free admission to the general public.
