Jane Anne Houser is Face #36 Today

"Jane Anne Houser: Face #36", oil, 12"h x 12"w, copyright Jill Banks 2011

Jane Anne Houser became Face #36 today for my 100 Faces in 100 Days Project. Jane Anne is Bob Gilbert's sister-in-law. Directly after Bob sat for me, he went out for a family dinner with all the in-laws and talked about my project and Jane Anne was immediately intrigued ... and wanted to sign up. She's beginning a new chapter, studying art, after retiring from teaching Middle School at Longfellow and Cooper. Studying art is just one of her pursuits. Enjoying her 7-month-old grandson is another. (There's plenty more.)

Jane Anne sat for me upstairs at the Artists' Atelier (where I share studio space with sixteen other artists at 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA) ... which happened to be a pretty busy place today with many of us (Walt Lawrence, Elaine Elinsky, Jennifer Duncan and Michela Mansuino) in working away and quite a few visitors coming in to check out all the work, our birds exhibit (artwork related to choosing the official Great Falls bird), and visit. My sitter fit right in and enjoyed the working studio environment.

Jane Anne viewing the finished painting of Face #36

I showed her the painting at various stages ... even at about 15 minutes in. Just because it was developing so naturally. She is easy to paint. (Not all of us are.) Plus, she came to enjoy the process and very pleasantly surprised with the results.

Jane Anne commented that she was amazed at how calm I seemed painting. By now, I've had plenty of practice to get rid of any potential jitters and I really love talking, painting, enjoying my sitter's company. Everyone seems happy to sit ... encouraging me to take as much time as I need. I'm pretty confident everything will turn out just fine. I hope it will. I also figure that both sitter and painter (me) are in this together. If the painting doesn't turn out, we'll have shared a very nice, different experience.

Wall of Faces Day 36. My husband's face is the one missing. Still getting operated on.

In the end today, Jane Anne loved the experience and the painting. Really loved it! It made her feel really good about herself. That's the ultimate reward for me. (Not that I need one.)

Very, very nice day indeed.

One more thing. I painted on "Pick-a-Peck Peppers" this afternoon ... a painting I started before this project. Sorry, no photos of it because my camera card is full. I'm not done ... but it was fun to paint something other than a face, too. A treat. And, I applied some knowledge learned from my faces project to this new market scene. Very cool.

Randy and I went out to dinner tonight at the Old Brogue Irish Pub to enjoy studiomate Elaine Elinsky's solo show there. It looks wonderful, and we weren't the only guests enjoying the view. Check it out throughout the month of February.

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