JEANNETTE STUTZMAN
Landscape Paintings en plein air

Artist's Statement

I began painting after many years of “learning to see” and contemplating what I had to say through my art. Finally, I realized that the scene held the message and it became my objective to paint the feeling of the landscape, the temperature, time of day and emotions evoked by spending time in each place. Quite often, the calm and solitude felt while getting away into the trees, near a river, in the cool shade is just what I need to re-center myself. I hope that the same feelings are conveyed through my paintings.

My painting process begins with a very loose sketch to plan the composition followed by an underpainting to block in masses of shapes. When painting in oils, the underpainting is a loose wash in three to four values, sometimes in color, other times all in a burnt reddish orange. When painting in pastel, I also do an underpainting but then I begin with hard pastels washed with water. At times I will substitute thin washes of oil for the hard pastels in this layer. Once the underpainting drys, I build layers of soft pastel over top. My pastels are all painted on Wallis sanded paper.

All of my paintings are done en plein air. This is a great challenge that I feel brings a great deal of truth to the process. There are no photographs to paint from, just the joy of observation and interpretation at that exact moment.