See You at the Northern Virginia Fine Art Festival in the Reston Town Center - Friday to Sunday, May 17-19?

10am to 5pm each day - Booth #506 on Explorer Street - Come for a Visit'

One wall of my booth set for the show. It was a windy set-up day so we put up art on one wall at a time and took it down waiting for tomorrow morning to see the whole booth ready for visitors -- hopefully you!

"Starry Night," oil, 16"h x 12"w, ©2019 Jill Banks - alley painted plein air in Knoxville TN. Too cool.

A partial wall of the booth

"On the Town (Georgetown)," oil, 36"h x 12"w, ©2019 Jill Banks

Lots more!  And, I continue to be painting like crazy.  Good crazy. Got started on my first plein air piece for the Falls Church "Scenes of the City" Plein Air competition, watching a brownie/Girl Scout trip enjoy an outing in Cherry Hill. Can't wait to go back ... and better not since the flowers in the garden are apt to change in the meantime.

Now I'm off to get some rest before the full weekend ahead.

Please catch my solo show "Still Life Stories" of 20 original oils through June 1 at the Great Falls Library, 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls, VA.  Thank you to those who attended the reception and party on May 11!

COMING UP

May 1-June 1, "Still Life Stories" Solo Exhibit, Great Falls Library, 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls VA  Library is closed on Sundays.

May 17-19 - Northern Virginia Fine Art Festival, Reston Town Center, Reston VA - Booth #506 on Explorer Street

June 1 - August 31 - American Impressionist Society (AIS) Small Works Showcase, Petoskey MI - "Cat House" chosen by AIS jurors as one of approximately 200 small works by some of the nation's finest impressionist artists.

June 7-9 - Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show, Philadelphia PA

June 28 - American Women Artists Museum Exhibition Reception - Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs CO (exhibit runs from May 24-September 2 - "On Top of the World" selected for this prestigious show)

June 29 - July 6 - Telluride Plein Air - Telluride CO

July 13 & 14 - Wickford Fine Art Festival, Wickford RI

 

September 12 - October 12 - Women Artists of the West Mountain Aire National Exhibition, Mary Williams Fine Arts, Boulder CO

September 13-15 - Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show, Philadelphia PA

September 21-22 - 17th Annual Alexandria King Street Art Festival, Alexandria VA

Thanks for reading,

Jill

www.JillBanks.com
Jill@JillBanks.com
 703.403.7435

Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/JillBanksStudio/ (Please like that page if you like it...)

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Read the Article: Southwest Art Artist to Watch,  July 2017 Here's a link to the PDF of the wonderful Artist to Watch article written by Kim Agricola.  

Read the Article: "Christmas Card Paintings: 46 Years and Counting"Here's a link to the article in Fine Art Today, published by Fine Art Connoisseur December 2018.  

Read the Article: "A Paris Plein Air Adventure" published by Outdoor Painter (from Plein Air Magazine)

 

Two More New Pieces -- Not Yet Exhibited

 

"Back in Time," oil, 12"h x 16"w, ©2019 Jill Banks -- almost finished plein air in Bologna but this got final touches and a signature this week.

 

"Spring Blooms - Window Seat," oil, 24"h x 36"w, ©2019 Jill Banks -- this was a bear!

Drawing in the Reston Town Center

"Reston Town Center," ink wash and pen&ink on Zecchi's paper, 4-3/4"h x 13"w, © Jill Banks 2011

"Reston Town Center Fountain," ink wash & pen&ink, 13"h x 9"h, ©Jill Banks 2011

Today was all about trying something new. Usually, my "Portrait Painting and Drawing" class involves a model for the day and painting at the school ... but this term, all my portrait painting students were taking a break for a session and my class was filled with my still life students looking for an extra painting day in class. (They are taking both still life and portrait.) So, the class is morphing into ... all those other things they'd like to learn to paint/do. (We did spend half of the classes working with a model ... the second half is the doing something different half.)

This morning we met at the Reston Town Center to work on ink washes and pen & ink. In the shade. The major lesson is in just suggesting the form versus drawing a contour and filling in the blanks. This was the first time the class tackled this new medium... one I love to use while traveling.

"Lamp Post," pen&ink and wash on Fabriano Artistico paper, 10" x 6", ©Jill Banks 2011

Drawing quieted my usually rowdy group. It's so different from painting ... which is fast-paced and social. Drawing is slow and introspective. It requires careful observation and continual decisions about what to include and what to leave out. A great idea to carry over into painting.

It was wonderful to sit there ... with this nice group ... listening and watching the fountain and the area fill with people and constantly change. A singer entertained the stroller set under the pavilion across the street. Not a bad place to be ... at all.

What I would like to do ... soon ... is to set up to paint, in oils, in Reston Town Center and all around the area and beyond. I want to paint urban spaces, concerts on the green, ballgames, farmers' markets and life in my neighborhood. The pools have opened and everyone seems to have spilled outside. Time for me, and my paints, to join life in the open air.

I have a ton of deadlines coming up ... rapidly ... shows to apply to, paintings to pull together. I think that's up next for today.

Tomorrow evening, after still life class, Randy and I take down my 100 Faces in 100 Days exhibit at the Great Falls Library, 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls. The library opens at 1pm tomorrow so there might be a few hours to catch it if you haven't. Go to my web site: www.jillbanks.com and the 100 Faces in 100 Days project pages to find out more.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
100 Faces in 100 Days Project: www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project.html
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435