Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 7 · column 1 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
By Andrew Haley
Special to the Rappahannock News
When one changes direction in life it takes a measure of selfconfidence but ultimately one has to take a leap of faith to proceed with the new. The result is often interesting and has unintended consequences. So it is with Robin Purnell’s exhibition of new landscape paintings in Long View Gallery. It is a fascinating look at an artist exploring a new voice.
The show, which runs through Oct. 9, has two of Ms. Purnell’s renowned portraits and twenty-seven new landscape paintings in pastel, oil pastel and oil. The portraits demonstrate where she has been and provide a poignant benchmark for her dramatic new direction.
One of the portraits, Young Russian Hunter, demonstrates Ms. Purnell’s prodigious technical mastery in a sincere, emotional painting. Here Ms. Purnell uses her language of portraiture to communicate. The human figure, its expression, body language and especially the eyes draw us in with a sense of mystery. The hunters’ face glows as if lit from within against the cool gray and white background. Once we have been engaged, Ms. Purnell uses symbolic animals lurking in the background to give us clues to the subject’s life, culture and spirit.
91.9%