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A Sense of Place | A Place to be Sensed: Vol. 6 – Winter Sporting Wonderland

Arthur Shilstone’s prolific career as a Master of Sporting Art produced a vast and diverse inventory of watercolor sporting scenes. Any Sporting Art enthusiast can find their sense of place within his body of work. With such a large inventory, however, we recognize the potential challenge of pinpointing that one exact scene (or 2, or 3….)  that brings a distinct ‘place to be sensed’ to a collection. We’ve decided to break down the collection into a few distinct categories and dive into the sparkling waters and abundant forests of a few select pieces. Today, we’ll be focusing on some of Shilstone’s winter sporting paintings.

Arthur Shilstone’s winter scenes hold a special place in our heart. While greener landscapes may be overall more popular and a little more universal, we can’t deny our love for these winter sporting scenes. We are, after all, New Englanders at heart, and Shilstone’s masterful representation of these fields, streams, lakes and forests brings us home.  

Shilstone – Winter Pheasants – Watercolor – 18 X 24 – Sold

Some of you may remember A Sense of Place Vol. 1 – ‘Unpainted Spaces’ in which we looked at Arthur Shilstone’s Anticipation, paying particular attention to Shilstone’s use of white space. Winter Pheasants is a prime example of such technique, calling to mind days spent chasing pheasants in barren December fields blanketed in snow, gray cloud cover overhead and the air calm and quiet.

Shilstone – Winter Mist On The Stream – Watercolor – 18 X 24 – $12000

One of the best examples of Shilstone’s use of light washes to structure the scene is Winter Mist on the Stream – the generous washes of cool blues, grays and purples soften the harsh winter landscape and give an intense moodiness to the piece that makes it live far beyond just a ‘winter scene’ in our minds.

Shilstone – Across A Winter Stream – Watercolor – 20 X 28 – $12000

The visual intrigue in Across a Winter Stream comes from, once again, Shilstone’s adept use of the unpainted space – by using the crisp white to suggest a skirt of ice on the riverbank, Shilstone brings the viewer’s eyes through the piece from left to right – starting at the shooting sportsman, following the leading line and ending at his target.  

Browse the rest of the selection and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! As always, inquiries for purchasing are welcome – please contact Fred at [email protected] and (802) 598-8301!

  • Shilstone – Sunday Afternoon – Watercolor – 18 X 26 – $12000
  • Shilstone – Grouse In Flight – Watercolor – 18 X 24 – $12000
  • Shilstone – Landing In The Quiet Water – Watercolor – 14 X 19 – $10500
  • Shilstone – Lift Off – Watercolor – 18 X 24 – $12000
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