New Gallery Photos

I thought I'd post some photos of the new gallery space, which officialy opened last Friday night. We were swamped the entire night so I did not get ONE picture of the actual event! It turned out well--hectic but fun. We're both still recovering from total exhaustion, but at least we made it through "phase one". Phase two is still to come--moving my art studio part into the building. We hope to have that accomplished by mid January at the latest. Front room:

This is the wall to the right as you walk in the front door. The flowers on the table are from our new landlord!

This is the left wall of the same room--A great spot for the paintings in my mini collection:

This is a view of the right hand wall as you continue on into the middle room.

Here's a shot of the same wall looking back into the front room:

Here is the opposite wall in the second room. The picture to the far left is an original oil painting of Tuscany. The pictures to the right are canvas prints on the walls, and paper prints in the rack. People were amazed at the quality of the canvas prints, which looked so much like paintings that I had to tell them they were prints and not originals.

   

Heading out from the 2nd room and into the third room. This is where the band played opening night:

Rounding the corner into this third room, here is my wall of Key West paintings:

   

   I had these paintings framed differently from the usual gold because I felt like the solid gold was too formal for this subject matter. I like the linen liner and the platinum colored frame with the bamboo motif for these sunny Key West pieces.

   This last room will undergo some changes. The front two rooms with the hardwood floors will remain gallery space, but we'll use this area more for work space (to be determined), though we'll still hang some art here. Down that hallway is a fourth small room and a bathroom with a utility sink.

   Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery is located at 16 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA, 23219. Currently we are open from 6 to 9 p.m. during the First Fridays Art walks, and other times by appointment. Please call 804-254-1008 (1-877-DIAL-ART toll free) to visit the gallery or to inquire about the paintings you see on the website.

Coquelicots du Lubéron

Oil on Canvas, 16x20"

This is a painting I just finished in preparation for one of my upcoming shows. Can you tell that red is one of my favorite colors? There is an abundance of it in the springtime in Provence and also in Tuscany. This is a scene off of a country road outside of Lourmarin. Lourmarin is a small village located in the Lubéron region of Provence. My husband Dave and I explored all around this area a couple of years ago, and had a spectaular time visiting the area at the height of spring.

To see more of my paintings of Provence, click here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist French landscape paintings

Lone Tree and Lavender

Gray skies today and yesterday, so I have been in the studio. I'm not sure if this is the beginnings of storms Ernesto and John making their way up the east coast, but predictions are that we'll have rain at least through Friday. Here is another square format painting I just completed. (I told you I was getting hooked on the squares!) This one is a larger gallery wrapped painting, measuring 24"x 24".

A lot of times I tend to include architectural elements in my landscapes, but I like the tranquility of this lone tree that serves as my center of interest. I saw many such scenes while traveling the backroads of Provence. When the lavender is in bloom the air is heady with the scent of it. The rows of lavender in this piece lead the eye in to the tree. For more information about this painting, click on the image:

Here is a side view, showing the finished edge:

To see more of my paintings of Provence, click here.

painting artist Provence landscape painting

Personal faves

There are times when I paint something and I am just like, "Wow! I love this!" I imagine of course that everyone else will just love it too, as I do. And yet, just as often, it is not the personal favorite that gets the great response. It may be some other painting that I've done.

When my husband comes to the studio, I grab him and say, "Honey, look at THIS!" 

"That's nice," he says, and then walks over to another painting I've done. "But THIS is great!"  (It is?)  .....So I can never tell what is going to connect. I just paint what connects with me, and hope that it connects with others.

This little painting is one that I just loved. I loved making it and I loved it when it was done because it had such fond memories attached to it. I am not one to paint a lot of cute puppies, but this little guy was one that I actually met when we were staying in the Provincial village of Lourmarin. He lived above a fabulous bakery, and he stared in his most menacing demeanor down at us from his upper window perch.

When Dave saw the painting, he said, "That's an unusual perspective. No one is going to know what to make of that sign." But, (in my most menacing demeanor,) I said, "Well, I'm leaving it as is!" So, while the sign, "Arts Pluriels," may not mean much to anyone but me, I know it is a shop sign hanging above the bakery (and now you do too!) And I will always look at this painting and think of the fabulous bread that we bought for our picnic, inspite of the fierce guard dog that threatened our mission.

I call this painting "Chien de Garde" (watch dog or guard dog). It is 12x9", oil on canvas. Click on the image for more info.

Thoughts on Cezanne in Provence

This week I took an out of town trip up to Washington D.C. with a friend to catch the Cezanne landscape exhibit. It was the last week that the show was on view and I am SO glad I had a chance to see it! It was a magnificent representation of his work, with galleries that seemed to go on and on. The show was devoted primarily to his landscapes but also included portraits, some still life, and his Bather series. Having seen (and been in awe of) his many still life paintings in previous exhibitions, the landscapes are what held my attention the most. I must say that no photo reproduction I've see does justice to his work. It was exciting to see the transition his paintings made when he began painting outside. His landscapes seemed completley transformed; going from heavy tonalist works to paintings full of light and color. But what was most striking to me was the incredible structure most of his paintings had. Many of his paintings were done from odd and unique perspectives, and his subject matter and compositional choices were not always typical of what the landscape painter might choose. And yet he had a way for line and composition that made the structure of his paintings feel almost sculputural.

Cezanne was interested in the formal elements of painting, and not really concerned with painting beautiful scenes, per se. For instance his paintings of the coast of L'Estaque did not depict an idealized harbor. Instead he chose to include an industrialized view of the smokestacks along the coast. He also did a number of paintings of the red rock quarries, which to me felt especially exploratory, as this subject lent itself very well to exploring his near cubist abstractions.

And yet there were so many paintings in that show that I found to be incredibly beautiful, both in the the choice of the subject and the handling of it. In particular the paintings of the countryside close to his home near Aix were so lovely. In addition to the well-known Mt. Saint Victoire series, there were many paintings of the rocky hillside villages and crumbling old farmhouses. In any event, I got the sense that he was always experimenting, exploring; perhaps sometimes frustrated (?), but never bored.

Cezanne had a light, feathery touch, and many of his oils were handled in a way that to me felt almost like watercolors. He had a masterful knowledge of color, though he used it in a subtle way. His greens were some of the richest I've seen, and within their shadows were hints of rose, blue, violet and lavender.

There was also an entire room devoted to his watercolors and drawings. These were light, sketchy things, but within them I could see the seeds of Modernism and the inspiration for the Cubists still to come.

It was our intention that day to catch the Cezanne show and then head over to the Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle to see the Degas and the Renior show. But we both agreed that we wanted some time to just absorb all of the great Cezannes we had just taken in. It's kind of like eating a meal. If it is a great one, you want time to just sit with the delicious experience before you move on to desert. And if it truly is great, maybe you don't even need desert at all!

To see my own paintings of Provence, click here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air Cezanne