The Imaginary Land of "Figs and Cherries" and the Brandywine River Museum

"Figs and Cherries," oil on Raymar panel, 8"h x 10"w,

After a long hiatus (almost a week?), I'm finally back with a blog post. My head is full of many posts to be -- since those absent days were filled with a trip to Wayne, PA (the exhibit for Wayne Plein Air ended), New Hope, PA (to visit Howard Cooperman's Bucks County Gallery and to see the town), and a tour of the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford -- the source of a ridiculous amount of inspiration. In fact, I can't get it out of my head. Things could definitely be worse.

You know, I go against advice. My blog is never about one thing. It travels in the direction of the next thought. And the next one after that. I'm supposed to stick with a topic.

Figs and Cherries

Reuse and recycle. "Figs and Cherries" were once (a few weeks ago) a different painting -- the demo done for the Great Falls Senior Citizens group.  For the demo, I wanted to show the process of painting, how developing a painting worked. Mission was accomplished but the subject, composition, etc. held no appeal. Today, I wanted to end up with an 8"x10" finished painting (there's a reason) and decided to bring that start to new life. Trader Joe's brought green figs (a great substitute for a lime) and I spent a long time in the aisle deciding between the darker and the more red/orange cherry varieties.

Brandywine River Museum

You're going to be hearing about this for awhile. This is an artist's museum, full of inspiration and writings, messages from the curators that are incredibly personal if art is your chosen path and daily life. The museum collection is surprisingly rich, yet concentrated on the Wyeth art dynasty, grandfather and illustration giant N.C. Wyeth, father Andrew Wyeth (a hero of my late uncle's who I would have loved to have walked with through the museum) and son Jamie Wyeth -- who I'm convinced is a kindred spirit.

Becoming an artist has gone hand in hand with learning about art & art "movements" -- current and past. While art studio classes were part of my schedule in school, I never enrolled in a single art history lesson. Now, I can't get enough.

You keep learning, and everything starts coming together with common threads. A local collector is a specialist in Illustration Art, an area many of us relate to with Saturday Evening Post covers a la Norman Rockwell. Private tours of his fantastic collection have taught me a lot -- the names, the leaders, the beauty in this particular art form. N.C. Wyeth trained a whole school of the best and the Brandywine River Museum was full of his work (the oil paintings on which the illustration plates for Treasure Island were based) and those of his students.

On many, the information plates included the caption for the illustration. I wondered. What is the caption for my "Figs and Cherries?"

Exhibits and Events

August, Visiting Resident Studio Artist, Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA, Studio #333

August 1-10, "Quiet" in Salmagundi Club's Annual Photography and Graphics Exhibition held at Denise Bibro Fine Art, Chelsea, NYC.

Sunday, October 14, MPA Artfest Outdoor Juried Arts Festival, McLean Central Park, McLean, VA

Saturday and Sunday, October 20&21, Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, 10am-5pm, visit artists in their studios throughout Great Falls on a self-guided tour. I’ll be at the Artists’ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA 22066

Web: www.jillbanks.com
 Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
100 Faces in 100 Days Project Page 1 (faces 1-54): www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project.html
100 Faces in 100 Days Project Page 2 (faces 55-100):
www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project_2.html
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