"Dining Room": Painting of an Interior Finished

I had "Dining Room", in an almost-finished state, on an easel during the Great Falls Annual Studio Tour this past weekend ... and it garnered lots of attention. It's the dining room from the home I moved from in July. I started it there ... with my easel in the dining room, with most of the lights off and a clamp light attached to the mast of the easel so I could make out what I was doing.

I'm always painting what I love. Lots (and lots) of nights in our former home, I'd wander around ... just enjoying the beauty of it from a doorway, or over the landing, staring out a window to the patio with lights from a tree shining on the brick pavers below. It whispered warmth and welcomed life.

As I finished this, now in a different house, I peeked at photos but relied on those wanderings and the memory of standing at my easel set up in the dining room ... working on letting you see what I see.

Even though the dining room seems empty, it holds all those Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners we shared. Birthday parties. Great get togethers. Happy meals. It's just quietly waiting for the next one. And looking mighty pretty in the meantime.

Most of my previous interiors have been of restaurant scenes including views from the Inn at Little Washington (Washington, VA), L'Auberge Chez Francois (Great Falls, VA), Pasquale's (Santa Fe, NM), The Old Brogue Irish Pub (Great Falls, VA) and Tutto Mondo (Carmel, CA). (You can see these restaurant interior paintings under Places in the Gallery page on my web site.) This past summer, I started painting inside a restaurant from life (as opposed to using photos as a reference) ... something I plan to do again soon. Lots of fun. Challenging. Painting what I love.

I plan to be at the Artists' Atelier (the studio I share with 16 other artists at 1144 Walker Road, Suites D&G, Great Falls, VA 22066) for our regular Saturday open hours (noon to 4pm) this coming Saturday. The place is still pretty well decked out from Studio Tour so it would be a nice time to stop by. For folks who visited last weekend, you'll have a chance to see how I finished two paintings ("Dining Room" and "Magnolia Leaves and Gourds") this week. I hope you can stop by.

By the way, this is my second post today. Read about my painting "Sunflowers" welcoming me home in the previous post.

"Dining Room", oil on linen, 18"h x 24"w, copyright Jill Banks 2010.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
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Phone: 703.403.7435