Tuesday, April 24, 2007

San Pasqual Stables and Chicago


'Brown Barn'.........7x9 inches........oil on panel
Visited the San Pasqual stables and painted this rugged and spacious, old brown barn shortly after my brief stay in Chicago. Jose De Juan, who joined me on this excursion, pointed out this wonderfully quaint and pastoral area located just south of the Arroyo in Pasadena.

:: CHICAGO ::

A few weeks ago Ben and I took a five day sojourn to Chicago. We lodged in a charming and cozy bed and breakfast situated in the historic district of Oak Park, Illinois (only a five-minute walk from the Frank Lloyd Wright Homes and Studio).
Sightseeing, museum visits and family gatherings were some of the many activities we crammed into our brief yet overwhelmingly satisfying respite.


Frank Lloyd Wright house







Frank Lloyd Wright house










Downtown Chicago

































:: CHICAGO ART INSTITUTE ::

While in Chicago, we caught the 'Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde' exhibition which runs through May 12th. Unfortunately, I was unable to take photographs of the current exhibition, however, I added a few pix of my faves from their permanent collection.


John Singer Sargent
















Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones
















George Bellows














........satiated yet satisfied from two days of museum viewing.........

23 comments:

chris miller said...

Next time you visit Chicago -- you might want stop by the Palette and Chisel -- for its exhibit or to sit in on one of the daily model sessions.

More details about its members and history is here

rob ijbema said...

welcome back....in cyberspace anyway.
love the barn painting,it was a long wait,but so worth it.
the composition/crop works well.
love the colors,amazing how little brown you need for a brown barn!

Chris Ousley said...

Never heard of Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones. I like whit I see. Love the Bellows pieceas well. He really has a lot of spirit in that painting

Chris Ousley said...

Nice job on the Barn. I like the flickers of light. It's like little grace notes.

les lull said...

Nice tour of Chicago. Great little painting of the barn. Tight in all of the right places. Your range of greys are to be applauded. The right amount of bright and lovely handling of the colors that get to peek through.

William K. Moore said...

Great shots.. Glad I was able to be there too or I'd be jealous. Chicago... what more can be said. To say it's a "user friendly" NY is to do both an injustice. Now for the painting. The drawing is near flawless.. but what makes this for me are the neutrals. I'm grooving on the color of the barn and the way you mixed it into the dirt foreground. The color alone carries this work.. all else is gravy.

Jennifer McChristian said...

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the info re 'Palette and Chisel'......I've bookmarked their website.
I definitely plan on returning to Chicago and will stop by to visit and/or paint.

Jennifer McChristian said...

Hi Rob,
I guess I did go for quite a stretch sans posting.
Must be true what they say about taking a vacation after a vacation...heck, I'm on vacation right now ;-)
Thanks for stopping in and I appreciate the compliments.

Jennifer McChristian said...

Thank you Chris!

By the way, I too was unaware of Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones' existence until I saw her 'Shoe Shop' painting at the Institute. Copy and paste this link for a brief biography of Elizabeth if you're interested:

http://elizabethsparhawkjones.com/galleryofwork
_frame.shtml

George Bellows..... ah yes, one of my favorites. His work is indeed very spirited.

Jennifer McChristian said...

Thank you Les for the generous comment :)

Chicago was awesome! Looking forward to visiting again next year....(or sooner, hopefully)

Jennifer McChristian said...

Bill, welcome back to sunny side up LA!

Thanks for the groovin' compliments.
Now that you're invigorated and inspired from your vacation, you can join us for some plein air action sometime soon!
Miss painting with you.

J

chris miller said...

I'm kind of a fan of contemporary plein air painting.

Do you know anyone who has made a comprehensive web gallery ? (that would be selective -- but not just limited to paintings for sale -- like what I've been trying to do for figure sculpture )

(and how I wish that contemporary museums would recognize this genre!)


Here's one of our club's recent Plein Air shows, and here's another.

Your paintings are so sunny and upbeat compared to our Midwestern views !

Robin Weiss said...

Great composition Jennifer!I agree with the comments about all the lovely details of this painting. Bet you guys rested in the shade of the barn, looks nice and cool.

slimjohnson said...

Jennifer -- as usual, your color is great, your composition is great. Your paintings have an excellent sense of light. Aaaahhhh, you probably get tired of hearing it!!!

Michael Pieczonka said...

Hi Jennifer, I like the barn picture.. that little area of purple near the back left makes for some interesting colour combos with the darkish brown of the barn.
Your trip to Chicago must have been inspiring. Looks like you saw some great artwork too! Never heard of Eliz Sparhawk Jones, but that painting is amazing!!

Jennifer McChristian said...

Thanks Robin!

Jennifer McChristian said...

Slim.....
thank you for the warm and generous comments and no, I never tire of appreciative words :)

Jennifer McChristian said...

Thank you Michael..
by the way, Chicago was indeed inspiring. The Art Institute has quite a handsome and extensive collection of incredible paintings.
The Sparhawk-Jones painting also blew me away the first time I set eyes on it. Quite a stunner!

Jennifer McChristian said...

Hi Chris,
Copy and paste this link. It's a service that provides professional and easy to navigate web sites for artists:

http://www.fineartstudioonline.com/index.html

...and thanks for the links to the palette and chisel plein airs! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit!

Tom Kidd said...

Wowie, what a great post, from the glowing painting of the stables, the pictures of Chicago and the paintings from the Institute. This is a real treat. Thanks.

Cooper Dragonette said...

I think I need to go to Chicago, but I'm also afraid I might never want to come back!

Jennifer McChristian said...

Cooper.....
I highly recommend you make it out to Chicago when you get a chance.
I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up staying ;-)

adebanji said...

Your painting of Yolanda is Great! I also love those life drawing sketches. Keep it up! Simply inspiring!