It's For The Birds

 Blue Moon Gallery: "It's For The Birds"

March 23-April 14; Saturdays & Sundays 1-4pm

Exhibition juror: Scott Jay Marr

18620 Belvidere Road (Route 120 east of 45)

Grayslake, IL 60030

CAIRN: All Our Hopes

Juror comments:

"Truly Sacred.  A reminder of the miracle of life and creation.  How precious... life is... And the hope of tomorrow.  Youth... and the potential of greatness.  Meticulously painted.  Tenderly conceived.  Simply outstanding."

Link: Blue Moon Gallery It's For The Birds 

CAIRN: All Our Hopes
Honorable Mention
(Sold opening night)

CAIRN: When Morning Gilds the Skies

CAIRN Series

This recent series references ancient cairns which were erected to mark sacred sites.  The notion of birds landing on cairns inspired me to work on imagery that brings birds and cairns together... merging heavenly creatures and earthly sacred sites. 

CAIRN: When Morning Gilds the Skies
Oil on canvas panel, 2024, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Waiting
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: All Our Hopes
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Remembering
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"

CAIRN: Seek Wisdom
Oil on canvas board, 2024, 6" x 4"

Ravenna, Italy

October 2019: Two weeks in Ravenna studying mosaics with Luciana Notturni

Click for video

Atelier 830

I recently took a class in Technique Mixte - a method of painting similar to that of Jan Van Eyck and the early Flemish masters.  It features the precision of tempera with the blending quality of oil.  Steve Jones taught the class and we met twice a week in the beautiful David Adler designed estate at 830 Green Bay Road, Lake Forest, IL.  The estate is currently being lovingly restored by Adrian and Nancy Smith.  It was the perfect venue for creativity.

Here are some photos of our class:

Our class (back row): Chi Chi, Janice, Julianna, Polly, Lori, Steve, Jane and (front row) Nancy and Martha.  Photo credit: Corinne Stagen Photography

Julianna

Janice

Lori

Polly

Nancy

Martha

Chi Chi

Jane

The drawing is fixed and ready for imprimatura

Imprimatura demo

Martha is holding her breath!

Finishing up the imprimatura

Underpainting in whites and umbers is complete.

Demo in color glazing

First hit of color glaze.

Drawing with Cretacolor Nero pencil.

After the imprimatura.  Working in whites and umbers.

First hit of color glazing.

More color glazing.

Steve does a demo in our classroom.

Our Atelier 830 painting studio

Changes... Before and After

Sometimes things need to change.  The first image was derived from thoughts on the Efficient Frontier, a reference to finance calculations and the Golden Mean.  It never quite gelled and last year it morphed into "In All Probability."  It became more subtle and incorporated elements of still life.  It played with balance and scale.  It allowed me to build still life on the canvas instead of carefully staging all the elements on a table.  And it became a new trajectory for my work.

I have enjoyed the playfulness and freedom this approach allows and have started another using an older canvas and breathing new life into it.

This "before and after" is a bit more dramatic in its transition.  I reworked the background into more subtle bands of color and added objects one by one, always cognizant of balance.  The objects in the new work reference the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  It's not finished, but is well on its way.

 

January 21, 2018 update 

Detail

February 4 update

Finished

A 35th Anniversary Celebration: Ann & Jim

This painting began a year ago in Colorado where I met Ann and Jim.  He learned that I was a painter and put his subtle request on a post-it note asking if I might do a painting for their anniversary.  It was nearly a year in the making and was revealed to Ann today, just after the solar eclipse!
Happy Anniversary, Ann and Jim!  I hope you enjoy this painting "from this day forward!"

Ann and Jim: 35th Anniversary, 2017, technique mixte on linen, 30" x 40"

Small But Mighty

Christopher Art Gallery
Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL
January 3-26, 2017
Opening Reception Thursday, January 12, 4:30-7:00 pm

This piece will be exhibited in Small But Mighty.
Exhibition juror: Aron Packer

Nest, 2014, oil on panel, 10" x 18"

FutureYou: the Fall sermon series at Christ Church

If I Stay

If I Stay, 2016, acrylic with technique mixte on canvas, 12" x 12"

This piece is featured in the FutureYou exhibition at Christ Church, Lake Forest, IL, in conjunction with the 2016 Fall Sermon Series, FutureYou.  Exhibition dates: September 10 - October 23, 2016.

Artist Statement
If I Stay explores the dilemma posed by threatening circumstances: to stay with the familiar or to flee?  In this painting, a bird clings to its nest while fire rages all around it.

DEEP: an exhibition at Christ Church in conjunction with the fall sermon series

Teach Us to Number Our Days

Christ Church, Lake Forest, Illinois
September - October, 2015

Teach Us to Number Our Days, 2015, oil on panel

Link to the exhibition catalog: DEEP

ARTIST STATEMENT

Jane Ellefson

Teach Us to Number Our Days

 2015

Oil on panel

This is a painting about divine design, wisdom, and humility.  It depicts my father’s transition into eternity and is based on Psalm 90:12, “Lord, teach us to number our days aright so that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” and Proverbs 11:2, “With humility comes wisdom.”

God’s wisdom is evident throughout all creation and is woven into the intricacies of our lives – even to the moment of our death.  The superimposed grid and spiral reference the mathematical Golden Mean (aka Divine Proportion), which is echoed in the spiral of the shell.  This work references Lamentation of the Dead Christ by Mantegna.

Andrea Mantegna, Lamentation of the Dead Christ, tempera on canvas, c. 1480

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy

VIEW: The Kitchen Table

North Shore Art League
620 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL 60093
Opening Reception: February 5, 2015, 6:30-8:00 pm
Show Dates: February 5 - March 16

 Two of my paintings will be exhibited in this show.

One Tomato, 2013, oil on linen panel, 6 x 6, $800

Persimmons on a Pewter Plate, 2014, oil on panel, 9 x 12, $1500