On Exhibit

Jameson’s 3D “Shenandoah” is a bird’s eye view of rolling hills of cut paper, greened with chalk pastel, and a dark river snaking through the valley.

Over Land, Sea and Sky
Gary Jameson and Colleen Sabo at ArtWorks at 7th
By Carrie Steele

The play between land, sea and sky attracts the eyes of artists all over the East Coast. So it’s no surprise that it’s also the muse for a new exhibit by outdoor painters Colleen Sabo and Gary Jameson at ArtWorks at 7th in North Beach. The show is Venn diagram on canvas: works are land, sea and sky in every combination.

In the one-room gallery above Nice & Fleazy Antiques, Sabo’s watercolors — presented on a gallery wall set up in the center of the room, and illuminated by the abundant natural light streaming in — are her impressionist versions of Bay Country and Maine, where she first went for a watercolor workshop.

Playful brush strokes with rich, precise color focuses on points of all three muses of nature. On land and sea, Sabo’s color takes on the urban cityscape as her impressionistic “Baltimore” reflects an Inner Harbor full of splash and vibrance in geometric purples, blues, greens and reds.

Sabo works with grays and muted colors, too, capturing passionate storms rolling in from the water just as you see them at the beach: a dark front surging up the coast, imposing on a perfectly nice day.

Rural life also edges in, as Sabo shows winter barns, with snowfall speckling the landscape, drifting from the sky.

Abstracter is “Motion,” where oranges, greens and purples rise from fiery red, taking life of their own as they streak across her canvas.

Gary Jameson’s works — presented opposite Sabo’s —study horizons. Jameson’s foremost muse is the interplay between water and sky, especially at dawn and dusk. His exhibit beckons you with duo panels “Chesapeake Sunset,” followed by “Chesapeake Sunrise,” depicting the sun’s majestic descent and ascension over the Bay, just as it has since the creation of the Chesapeake basin.

Those with an affinity for water-gazing will appreciate the many moods captured in Jameson’s art. There’s dawn on a clear summer day in “Dawn Off Bar Harbor”; a clear night framed by water in “Night Sky on the Chesapeake Bay”; and “Merides,” where a Caribbean blue water meets a wide-awake morning sky.

Striking is “Oil Slick on the Bay,” a sea-water horizon, with an enamel pool sliding off the painting onto its mat.

Jameson’s land takes his art 3D. “Shenandoah” is a bird’s eye view of rolling hills of cut paper, greened with chalk pastel, with a dark river snaking through the valley.

To get inspired by land, sea and sky yourself, end the art show with a walk down the North Beach boardwalk aside the Bay.