LOU SCHELLENBERG
Shadows and Light/Day and Night
Exhibiting paintings of man-made structures and the shapes they define
MARCH 1 – 30, 2011

Lou was my undergraduate painting instructor and mentor at Elizabethtown College. I went to first friday in Lancaster to see her recent solo show at The Artisans Gallery at 114 Prince St. It was great to see what she was making these days. Her earlier works have a wonderful sense of light in the day, similar to her great use of color for her later paintings of night and dusk. I apprieciate the way she uses colors to make flat shapes appear whole. She also has an eye for making complicated landscapes of buildings and alleys seem simple. I suggest if your in the area to go see this show!

"Now Chile, the Kite, brings home the night
That Mang, the Bat, sets free --
the herds are shut in byre and hut,
For loosed till dawn are we.
...This is the hour of pride and power,
Talon and tusk and claw.
Oh, hear the call! -- Good hunting all
That keep the Jungle Law!

Night-Song in the Jungle."

I have some new paintings to put up on my website but I have a little more tinkering to do before they are website ready. I placed this poem above to give you an idea of the direction that I am going in and a little taste of what is to come. It is a poem from Rudyard Kipling's book The Jungle Book which has inspired me greatly. The Jungle Law is so important for all people to abide by and not just the people of the jungle. It is said that one can not hunt for pleasure but only for hunger for that is what keeps the balance of nature. If one does not keep the Law of the Jungle then they pay for it with their life. To get the full law of the jungle, I suggest you read this book, for it is not a children read but a very wise book to live by.