Paintings

About her paintings

The interplay of contemporary patterns and the abstraction and stylization of them in relation to organic form epitomizes Adele Chase’s paintings. Her canvases are rampant with details, but each makes a simple statement as its main theme. The artist plays with light and likes to, noticing how the changes in color and form are molded by their position relative to the light source. “I am engrossed with the interplay of contemporary pattern and the abstraction and stylization of them related to organic form. The paintings are full of detail, but each has a single statement to make. The rest is to provide more than can be seen at a single viewing so that the viewer wants to return.”

In Pop-Op: 1928-1968 - This is Adele’s first painting in acrylics and won first prize at the Marin Society of Artists. It is a gal in a ’28 cloche seated on the rail of a departing ship, dazzles with the black and white zigzag pattern of the background and her garment. It’s under control, structured by the horizontals and verticals of the railing and the circle of the life ring. The surface is adorned with blue and green serpentine. Return to find that the life ring is transparent and that the serpentine curls along the border and base of the painting.

The Sailor – In this painting Adele launched into the challenge of light on water plus the difference between direct, reflected and filtered light. She was also intrigued by the possibilities of white against white and felt this painting to be innovative. The up-view from flat on the deck of the yacht elongates the startling masculine figure and emphasizes his ‘ lord of all I survey’ attitude. A second viewing will reveal the translucency and texture of the sails, his bare foot on the tiller and the arabesque of slack line across the deck.

Signs of our times: from the Portuguese – Because of her many years working with and around tile, Adele was inspired by the changes light made on the background and the illusion of pattern if used in certain ways. This is Adele’s second foray into painting with acrylics.

Signs of our times: Beirut – The artist was caught up in the helplessness, hopelessness and desperation of people trapped as civilians in war. Adele’s intent was to capture this reaction in paint as it had caught her emotionally.

Two Women (Light at the end of the Tunnel) introduces the long discarded story-telling picture. Two figures seated cross-legged in brilliantly flowered dresses are rhythmically disposed in a horizontal format, before a background of houses in purple shadow, one gleefully whispering to the other. Return to find an elaborate ring on the recipient of the gossip and a gorgeous array of birds and fruit scattered among their skirts at the base of the painting. There were two challenges in this painting. The first in the drawing, to be able to render form and space without shading – using a flat color in a specific area. The second was to render the background with the depth, luster and transparency of tempera glazes. This required layer upon layer of color that resulted in a lustrous blending achievable in no other way.