Jean Perry, Denver, Colorado

I insist that my paintings must come from personal experience. I have no desire to paint historical pictures of someone else's life. I want to communicate the emotions I feel about that particular place and time. Landscapes seem to dominate my work but I also paint animals, still life and portraits..
Oil painting by JEAN PERRY available at Columbine Gallery Colorado's Largest Fine Art Source Specialists in Public Art and Home Decor My painting style has evolved thru the years from creating large abstract collages using acrylics and tissue paper to a more traditional style today that could be described as a form of Impressionism. The change began some thirty years ago when I discovered the excitement of painting outside on location. Today I am primarily a plein air painter traveling all over the world with my portable easel and paints in my backpack. I work mainly in oil and when traveling I paint on surfaces of linen that has been glued to Baltic birch wooden panels or Styrofoam boards. When painting a landscape en plein air you are limited to the number of hours you can work before the moving sun has created an entirely different picture so I carry small panels in sizes from 8”x10” to the largest size, 16”x20”. Actually, I think that this constraint of time helps me to concentrate on the impression of the scene and not get too involved with the details and hopefully the painting will have some of the emotion that I felt when I was standing there. These paintings are usually close to being a finished painting, but if not, I will work on them in the studio before releasing them to a gallery. In my studio I also use these small pieces as reference for larger paintings on stretched linen canvas, sometimes combining the information from more than one field study. I also paint still lifes and portraits from life and believe all painting is learning to “see”. Jean started art classes at age 5 when her mother sent her to Saturday lessons at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo. Majoring in Fine Arts at the University of Colorado, she began painting in an abstract, nonobjective style. Signing up for a local plein air workshop taught by Mel Fillerup of Wyoming she discovered the joys of painting on location. ‘We painted every day even in a spring snow storm and I knew I had found my direction’. Since that time Jean has continued her art education with classes at the Scottsdale Artists School, workshops with many instructors including private lessons with Mark Daily in Denver. Her style of painting has evolved from abstract to a more traditional form of Impressionism working mainly in oil. Jean has painted and traveled all over the world including Indonesia, Europe and Mexico. She teaches workshops every year with several different organizations. The most prestigious oil painting organizations in America have voted her a signature member including the Plein Air Painters of America, Oil Painters of America, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters and an honorary member of the Tucson Plein Air Painters Society. Her paintings can be found in shows from New York to California including the Arts for the Parks Top 100, The Salmagundi Club in New York City, Laguna Art Museum, Clymer Museum in Washington and the Desert Caballeros Museum in Arizona. Her bibliography: Thirty Years of Plein Air Painting, The Art of Jean Perry Following Big Footsteps, Italy, Plein Air Magazine, 2013 Artist Profile and front cover, Plein Air Magazine, 2013 Enchanted Isle, A History of Plein Air Painting In Santa Catalina Island Oil Painting Basics, The Artists’ Magazine Staging A Landscape, Jean Perry The Artists’ Magazine Hitting Her Stride, Nancy Ellis Art of the West Jean Perry, Artist, Nancy Jarchow Steamboat Magazine Jean Perry Meets Goals, Jane Hume Northwest Colorado Press Jean started art classes at age five when her mother sent her to Saturday lessons at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo. Summer classes continued until college where she majored in Fine arts at the University of Colorado. It was during this time that she began painting in an abstract, nonobjective style. Jean continued sporadic lessons through the early years of marriage and raising four children. In 1980 Jean and her husband, Gil moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado and she decided to make a full-time commitment to her love of art. Signing up for a local plein air workshop taught by Mel Fillerup of Wyoming she discovered the joys of painting on location.
Jean Perry
Jean Perry featured in April May Plein Air Magazine paintings available thru Columbine Gallery
Featured in April/May Plein Air Magazine
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"My painting style has evolved thru the years from creating large abstract collages using acrylics and tissue paper to a more traditional style today that could be described as a form of Impressionism. The change began some thirty years ago when I discovered the excitement of painting outside on location. Today I am primarily a plein air painter traveling all over the world with my portable easel and paints in my backpack. I work mainly in oil and when traveling I paint on surfaces of linen that has been glued to Baltic birch wooden panels or Styrofoam boards. When painting a landscape en plein air you are limited to the number of hours you can work before the moving sun has created an entirely different picture so I carry small panels in sizes from 8”x10” to the largest size, 16”x20”. Actually, I think that this constraint of time helps me to concentrate on the impression of the scene and not get too involved with the details and hopefully the painting will have some of the emotion that I felt when I was standing there. These paintings are usually close to being a finished painting, but if not, I will work on them in the studio before releasing them to a gallery. In my studio I also use these small pieces as reference for larger paintings on stretched linen canvas, sometimes combining the information from more than one field study. I also paint still-life and portraits from life and believe all painting is learning to “see”." -Jean Perry

Jean started art classes at age 5 when her mother sent her to Saturday lessons at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo. Majoring in Fine Arts at the University of Colorado, she began painting in an abstract, nonobjective style. Signing up for a local plein air workshop taught by Mel Fillerup of Wyoming she discovered the joys of painting on location. ‘We painted every day even in a spring snow storm and I knew I had found my direction’. Since that time Jean has continued her art education with classes at the Scottsdale Artists School, workshops with many instructors including private lessons with Mark Daily in Denver. Her style of painting has evolved from abstract to a more traditional form of Impressionism working mainly in oil. Jean has painted and traveled all over the world including Indonesia, Europe and Mexico. She teaches workshops every year with several different organizations. The most prestigious oil painting organizations in America have voted her a signature member including the Plein Air Painters of America, Oil Painters of America, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters and an honorary member of the Tucson Plein Air Painters Society. Her paintings can be found in shows from New York to California including the Arts for the Parks Top 100, The Salmagundi Club in New York City, Laguna Art Museum, Clymer Museum in Washington and the Desert Caballeros Museum in Arizona.