Watercolor Artist - USA (2019-12)

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Meet the Artist

Geoffrey McCormack (mcsurf.com)

was born in Berkeley, Calif., and

now lives in Eugene, Ore., with his

wife. He earned a master’s of fine

arts degree in sculpture from San

José State University, and has

studied under David McGuire, Sam

Richardson, John Battenberg and

others. He consistently has solo

shows and group shows in the

United States and Europe. His many awards include the

Gold Award at the California Watercolor Association

48th Annual National Exhibition in 2018 and first place

at the 89th National Watercolor Society Exhibit in 2009.

blocks behind an assortment of geometric imagery.
McCormack took inspiration from the color fi eld painters
of the ’60s. “Th e painting plane is as deep as it goes—this
isn’t a window like for a Matisse or a da Vinci. Th e idea is
to try to get stuff to move toward the viewer, and make the
viewer have to be closer to the painting to see the full
depth of the space.” Th e full depth of McCormack’s
“Shadow Series” paintings are described with—what else—
shadows. “In this series, I understood for the fi rst time
that abstract painting, for me, has to be constructed,” he
says. “I start each work in that series with three rectangles,
one that’s a negative space and generally black.” Otherwise,
the artist says his color choices are mostly random and a
simple matter of preference.
With such control over composition and concept, it came
as a surprise, even to McCormack, that he felt he needed
some spontaneity in Learning to Walk in My Own Shadow 2
(opposite). “I wanted some painterliness in it,” he says, “so
I took a squirt bottle of white acrylic paint, masked off the
page and did it. I said, ‘Oh, my God, that’s horrible,’ and
wiped it off right away.” It was a learning moment for the
artist, and he says he realized his mistake immediately. “Th e
marks we make are too self-conscious, so I wiped that one
off , turned my head, and just took the squeeze bottle and
squeezed it across! It came out so nice because, in reality, it
was out of my control. I couldn’t see it.”

It’s this balance between accidents and intentionality,

control and purposeful spontaneity, and abstraction and

representation that makes McCormack’s works so striking.

Th ey require a thoughtful kind of viewer—one willing to

engage with both the conceptual and the playful. Th e eff ort

is always rewarded with a visual language so unique that it

speaks to every kind of creative soul. WA

McKenzie Graham is associate editor of Watercolor Artist,

Pastel Journal and Artists Magazine.