Featured Artist: Jan Jewell

This is the first in a planned series to regularly feature a profile of one of our advertising members. And who better to start with current president, Jan Jewell. 

Jan has expressed her creativity with different art forms throughout her life. From winning a high school art competition, to an accomplished career in jewelry making, to becoming a wildly successful entrepreneur, to designing her own timber frame home in the Olympic peninsula. Except from her full Bio:

Since 2010, Jan has focused on representational oil painting. She has studied with Scott Christensen, Jeremy Lipking, Ovanes Berberian, Ned Mueller, Kathleen Dunphy, Alexander Zimin and David Gray, among others. A year after joining Plein Air Washington (PAWA), Jan joined its board as webmaster, and this year serves as its president. She found plein air painting to be exhilarating, and has traveled on painting adventures either with groups, or solo to France, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Glacier National Park, the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Arches National Monument, the Grand Tetons, California, Hawaii and all over her home of Washington State. She was granted a one-month artist’s residency in Dinan, France for the month of September, 2013. She is a mother of four, living with her husband Mike in Bellevue.

I get super envious of Jan's stories and pictures of her hobnobbing with some serious world class artists. Here's Jan painting with Jeremy Lipking in Hawaii:

 

Having a chat with esteemed portrait artist, Everett Raymond Kinstler:

Spending time with Rosemary Thompson of the famous Rosemary brushes:

Of course, Jan is a fabulous artist in her own right. Here's a sampling of her art:

More at Jan's website, and in her PAWA gallery.

Woodinville Paint Out

I caught the tail end of this paint out, and met the last few painters by the pond at Chateau Ste. Michelle. Despite being less than 5 miles from my home, I've never painted on the lovely grounds of the winery, well known for being the pioneer that established the Washington wine industry. Close by the winery grounds are the Sammamish River, the trail right beside it, a lavander farm, and other wineries, breweries, and distilleries. So many things to paint in Woodinville, and certainly our paint out participants took advantage.

Thanks so much to Sue Thim for facilitating!

Here's some lovely artists:

And some lovely artwork:

(Robin Weiss)

(Jan Jewell)

(Brooke Borcherding)

Palouse

I wasn't able to go to Eastern Washington for the Palouse Falls paint out this year. I went to the Walla Walla paint out last year, and Palouse the year before, so I knew people would really enjoy painting over on the sunny side of the state. And from what people shared in our facebook group, it looked like a ton of fun! Or as Karen Bakke said "If this is what PAWA is all about, I'm HOOKED!!" Needless to say, I'm quite jealous of everyone who were able to make it there.

Here are some artists hard at work painting the majestic views by Palouse Falls:

 

:) Ok, some serious painting got done too:

I love Larry Walden's spicy apron! Big thank you to Melanie Thompson for facilitating, I think the Eastern Washington paint outs have turned into one of those "must-go" PAWA paint outs.

Blue Poppy Days

I never would have known about this gem, the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way, had they not invited PAWA to join in their Blue Poppy Days event. The Rhody Garden folks  were gracious hosts and even got PAWA members in for free! There is also a super fascinating bonsai museum attached to the garden.

The star of the event, the blue poppy

Jan Jewell painting the blue poppies

Jan also did this amazing bonsai painting!

I'm trying to keep this blog updated as much as I can, but as you can see, I can be a little behind. You can keep up to date with what our members are doing by joining our Facebook Group. Also, the PAWA Eventbrite page has our upcoming paint-outs. Speaking of which, the Woodinvile paint out is tomorrow June 5, and Saturday, June 6! I will be there on Saturday.

Bainbridge Island Paintout

It's amazing how a short ferry ride can make you feel like you're in a completely different world. That's how I felt when I met up on Saturday with our painting friends. The Bloedel Reserve was an especially beautiful location to paint, or just stroll around. I thought I missed out on painting at Bloedel as the Saturday schedule was for Bainbridge Vineyard.

It turns out, different artists had different ideas (as they usually do) for the day. So some of us went to the Bloedel Reserve, some of us went the the vineyard, and some went to the Tilbury festival which was also happening at the time.

It's May in the Seattle area so everything is positively verdant. And by verdant, I mean very, very green. I admit I found it difficult to paint so much green. But it did not stop the fabulous artists from doing some nice work. Here are some photos shared on our facebook group:

(Melissa Jander)

(Robin Weiss)

(Sharon Curran)

(Paula Ensign)

May is quite the busy month for us, the next paintout is in a couple days May 16 in Federal Way, for the Blue Poppy Festival. PAWA members who are painting get in for free. Sign up on our EventBrite page to find out more.

Painting with friends

I went to Ellensburg on Friday to attend Melanie Thompson's first one woman show "Western Vision" at the Clymer museum. I must say it's really worthwhile to make a trip there just to see the work.

But as a bonus, Melanie, Laura Gable and I decided it would be fun to paint in Ellensburg the next day. So I stuck around Ellensburg, and the three of us headed out to the Yakima River Canyon early on Saturday.  We painted under a pedestrian bridge by Umptanum Creek. It was a nice day with unusually calm winds.

It was really enjoyable painting with friends, despite the bug swarm that stuck on the paint! And I felt a real camaraderie, I think with the many other plein air painters in Washington State and the wider world that are doing the same thing. Setting up their easels with friends, exchanging art gossip, and painting. 

Sometimes, painting can feel like an isolated pursuit, just you, your paints, and your struggle. I imagine that to produce something of the quality, volume, and scale of Melanie's paintings for her show, there is a lot of locking yourself up in the studio required.

But I believe there's a lot to be said for also painting with friends. For me, it fills my well, being outdoors, watching other artists paint, and seeing what inspires them. To me, this is what Plein Air Washington Artists is about, a group that enables people to paint with friends.

So come paint with us! As of this writing, there are three upcoming paint outs that you can sign up for in PAWA's Eventbrite page. Bainbridge Island is coming up in the few days. Palouse Falls and Walla Walla are May 22-24, where you can paint with Laura and Melanie as I did. The Mt. Baker paintout is a bit further out in September, but you can sign up early.

Painting at the arboretum

It was probably the perfect day for painting outdoors. The sun was out but still comfortably cool. The  trees were newly green, and the azaleas were blooming brightly. So it was no surprise that over 20 people came to the paint out at the arboretum in Seattle.

setting up

lunch crowd

Many thanks to our fantastic facilitator for the paint out, Emiliya Lane. She did this beautiful painting  there:

One of the great things about painting outdoors is that, like Emiliya's painting, there's the opportunity to capture that day better than a photograph. Here are a few more shared by folks on our Facebook page:

(Ned Mueller)

(Brooke Borcherding)

(Jan Jewell)

(Robin Weiss)

(Sue Thim)