Subdued, Ethereal Landscapes by Lisa Tomczeszyn

By Dallas Jeffs

Vermont Clouds Oil on Canvas

Los Angeles artist Lisa Tomczeszyn uses watercolour, oils and pastels to make subdued, ethereal landscapes that fade in and out of abstraction. The artist has a great skill for colour blending, creating twilight images in realistic shades.

Meditation green blue , watercolour on paper

In many cases, the titles of Lisa’s works are the only thing that discloses them as figurative landscapes, rather than abstractions. I enjoy this ambiguity, and it would be really interesting to see the works before reading the titles. The artist is skilled with blending and often uses numerous slightly different colours and hues to create a finished work that seems to express a single colour scheme.

I like Lisa’s pastel drawings, many of which are florals, or specifically focused on plants. These works are the most definitively figurative in the artist’s portfolio, but the forms are just a few smudges away from spiraling into abstracts. This creates a great sense of tension, and reminds me a bit of the hazy pastel works of Robin Street-Morris. 

Wild Grass, pastel on paper