Jennifer McChristian
With a solid foundation in the traditional craftsmanship of the early impressionists, Jennifer McChristian loves to explore modern everyday scenes using a classic, limited-color palette. Her subject matter ranges as far as her travels, including scenes of Caribbean islands, medieval European cities and towns, South African safaris, small Chinese village markets and big American cities. Wherever the destination, she manages to find that one overlooked view that, when put on canvas, becomes the distillation of the essence of that place.
“I’m often inspired by scenes of people partaking in everyday, mundane activities in their life. I find that these little moments in time can be whimsical, nostalgic and thought provoking for me. I think viewers of my work get a voyeuristic sense of the subject’s intimate slice of life moment, something that resonates with them and invites them to participate emotionally with the scene.” McChristian explains. “I also like to use the light, composition and lost edges to create figures that are shrouded in a sense of mystery and intrigue. Again, this invites the viewer’s imagination to fill in the missing ingredients and fosters emotional participation with the piece. I feel this is at the heart of what draws me to the impressionist genre, this activation of the viewer’s imagination as it completes the landscape or figure internally with sensory memories that have emotional meaning for the individual.”
McChristian is an incurable night owl and takes a particular delight in painting nocturnes. Her favorite muse is her husband, Ben, who she has immortalized in paint and charcoal innumerable times. It should come as no surprise that when she painted Ben cooking on the patio grill late at night she created an exceptionally compelling painting. Late Night Barbecue will be exhibited in the American Impressionist Society’s 21st annual National Juried Exhibition scheduled to open at Illume Gallery in October and was previously selected as finalist for the 2019 ARC Salon. McChristian is scheduled to teach a plein air painting workshop in Cinque Terre, Italy, in the summer of 2021.
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