Learning to Sail | charcoal | 24.25 x 7″ | 2019 |$5000
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Learning to Sail
Author: jodiekainpastels
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Sense of Place
Sense of Place | soft pastel | 2019 | 16.5 h x 13 w
“People aren’t interested in blueprints; they want to sense
the painter’s involvement and pleasure in the subject…
Paint a sense of place."
— Paul Strisik
Thanks to my very patient friend Mary for posing at the top of the Hancock parking garage while the security guards monitored us.
Pastels used: Mount Vision, Girault, Faber-Castell Pitt pastel pencils, and Gioconda pastel pencils. White Canson Mi Tiente paper 400 grit.
Art Preservation Institute 2022 Curator’s Juried Art Competition, April 1 – May 31 2022
Richeson75 Figure/Portrait International Art Competition 2019 Meritorious entry
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On Deck (The Veteran Fencer)
On Deck (The Veteran Fencer) | pastel | 2018 | 18″ x 26″
‘On Deck’ depicts a veteran fencer who has honed the ritual of putting on the glove to mentally prepare. His intensity is focused inward as he’s called to his next bout.
ArtWorks Gallery, Celebrating The Figure, 69 Main St., Ware, MA, April 9 – 30 2022
92nd American Artists Professional League Grand National Exhibition “On Deck (The Veteran Fencer)”. Online Exhibit 9 November – 31 December 2020, Pastel Society of America Award
Richeson75 Figure/Portrait International Art Competition & Exhibit 2020 Finalist “On Deck (The Veteran Fencer)”. Online Exhibit opens 29 October 2020
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Boothbay Afternoon
Boothbay Afternoon – Charcoal and white conté on toned paper, 2018. From a snapshot taken on a summer afternoon while on a schooner in Boothbay Harbor.
ARTinME, 2018 Boothbay Regional Art Foundation show, located at 1 Townsend Avenue, Boothbay Harbor, ME. The exhibit will run from October 14 – November 12, 2018. For more information go to boothbayartists.org.
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God Is My Judge
‘God Is My Judge’, Mount Vision and Girault soft pastels on Canson Mi-Tientes Touch paper, 18″ wide x 18.5″ high.
61st Stockton Art League Juried Exhibition at the Haggin Museum, Stockton CA, April 7 – May 15 2022
Las Laguna Art Gallery, 6-29 January 2022
American Artists Professional League, 91st Grand National Exhibit, Salmagundi Club, NYC, 11-22 November 2019
14th International ARC Salon Finalist
American Women Artists’ Spring 2019 Online Juried Show, on view 1 April 2019 – 1 April 2020. AmericanWomenArtists.org
2018 Guild of Boston Artists Annual Regional Juried Exhibition. The Guild is located at 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. The exhibit will run from September 8 – 29, 2018. For more information go to guildofbostonartists.org.
BoldBrush Online Painting Competition, Outstanding Pastel Award May 2018 and FAV 15% (jury’s favorite 15% of entries)
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Triad
Private Collection
Soft pastels on UART sanded board, 12×18″. Mount Vision, Gerault, Gioconda pastel pencils.
Military Macaws, photo taken at the West Palm Beach Zoo.
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Portrait Of A Generation
Mount Vision & Girault soft pastels on Canson Mi-Tientes Touch board 30×20 (28.5×18.5 image area).
An allegory of the current narcissistic generation relating to the virtual world and isolating themselves from the real one.
“Portrait of a Generation” – BoldBrush Online Painting Competition, January 2018, FAV 15% (jury’s favorite 15% of entries)
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Light Embrace
Mount Vision and Girault soft pastels on Ampersand Museum Series Pastelbord, 24″ x 36″.
ArtWorks Gallery, Celebrating The Figure, 69 Main St., Ware, MA, April 9 – 30 2022
Pastel Society of America 48th Annual Exhibition: Enduring Brilliance! along with The Butler Institute of American Art, on-line 8 September – 3 October 2020
Fay Chandler Emerging Art Exhibition City of Boston 2019, Boston City Hall, Scollay Square Gallery
2018 Northeast Regional Pastel Exhibition at View Arts, 3273 State Route 28, Old Forge, NY. The exhibit will run from June 23 – July 29, 2018. For more information go to ViewArts.org. This piece has been given the Rooney ETC Award.
American Women Artists 2018 Spring Online Juried Show
Second Place, Colors of Humanity Art Gallery online juried exhibit, November 2017
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Granite & Silk
Mount Vision soft pastels and Rembrandt pastels on Canson Mi-Tiente dove grey paper, 16 1/2 x 14 1/4″.
BoldBrush Online Painting Competition, May 2017 FAV 15% (jury’s favorite 15% of entries).
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Images from my world
Of all the photos I’ve taken in my life there are special images that stick in my memory for decades. At some point I suddenly have the time and the will to dig the image out and set up for painting. My memory for names and dates is horrible, but I’m convinced all of that brain-space is devoted to visual memory. I never forget a face and never forget what attracted my attention to an image and caused me to want to capture a photo for future reference. Sometimes when I pull out a photo it takes a while to remember what that was. The picture usually looks flat and uninteresting. It didn’t capture the narrowed vision and focus that I, the viewer, had at the time. A good example of how I mined my visual memory to alter the photo image to paint an image that reflected my memory is “The Clammer”. I intensely remembered how the breeze ruffled the man’s hair, his movement, the rhythm of the water, glinting of the sun off the water (but not enough to detract from the man), the sand under and swirling through the water as the tide ran out, the reflection of the sky on the deeper water, the footprints and rake marks of former clammers who worked there at other times. I’m not going to try to describe in words how I used memory to change the image, posted below are both the original photo and the altered painting so you can see for yourself.
“Miss Peanut” is an excellent example of how memory is way better than the photo, even if the photo is essential. Posted is the low resolution camera-phone snapshot, taken in bright sun that washed everything out, with funky overall color. But I really loved the pose, gesture, and lighthearted joy of the facial expression. Most importantly for me, how the lines of her body mirrored the lines of the peanut truck behind her. I prepared for painting by drawing a linear study highlighting flow-through lines and accentuating parallels between the figure and the lines of the background. This was taped to the wall behind the easel so I wouldn’t forget during the intense focus of working. Additionally, a major goal for me with this piece was to make the yellow peanut truck recede, as yellow, like most bright colors, visually projects forward.
I’m currently working on “Granite & Silk”, another example of a striking image that stuck with me for years, until I finally felt confident enough to capture the moment in pastel. This painting is about textures (hard, pitted stone, soft skin, the silky sheen of fabric) and, to expose myself as an art-nerd, value and chroma. The challenge here is to describe a human form with shadows and light, retaining the impression of a living person pausing for a moment without becoming stiff and mannequin-like. Just as importantly, to retain the vibrant hues of the woman’s clothing while retaining the relative value of each part of her form. The reason why this is difficult to do with pastel is because of the opaque quality of the medium. While mixing colors is possible, it must be done carefully and judiciously. If an area becomes overworked, a muddy color results and there are very few ways to remedy this, if at all. Glazing a bright hue to achieve a darker value while retaining the visual purity of the chroma might just end up as mud.
Below: The original picture, a value study in charcoal, and a detail of the figure in progress.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
-Edgar Degas
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Miss Peanut
My daughter standing in front of a Mr Peanut truck in Cleveland. This was more of an exercise in making yellow recede than a portrait. Rembrandt and Girault pastels on laid paper.
Colors of Humanity Juried Exhibit May 2017
colorsofhumanityartgallery.com “Yellow” show, Honored as a Noteworthy work.
The original phone pic.
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Jodie’s Studio
An early instructor told me my drawing skills were good, but that I wasn’t “seeing”. It took me a long time to understand her meaning.
Observing people in their environments and translating that image is a skill developed over a lifetime. I understand how people interact with others and with their surroundings, how a warm sunny place will make a person happily sit for a while; then distill this scene into its nuanced component shapes, colors, values and gestures.
I now realize that truly ‘seeing’ is not literal; to ‘see’ is multi-sensory. Even though I can faithfully — even beautifully — render a subject, that painting will not be complete until I can ‘touch’ the skin or fur of my subject, until I can ‘smell’ the air around them, when I can ‘hear’ what is going on in the scene — and when my audience can too. I strive to ‘see’ the scene so that every individual viewing my artwork can feel it’s emotion as if it were their own.
Moved out of the Elevator Shaft Studio October 2020.
Thanks to Thunderpussy for letting me use their song Velvet Noose, even though I didn’t ask them.
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Brad
Brad a.k.a. Two Scotches In
Portrait in the Classic tradition. Super soft Mount Vision pastels and soft Girault pastels on sanded paper; Canson Mi-Tiente Touch. 14.5×21″
15th International ARC Salon – Semi-Finalist
American Artists Professional League 2020 On Line Members Show ‘Favorite Things’, “Brad”, 1st Place Pastel Award
Arnot Art Museum, 76th Regional Exhibit, 235 Lake Street, Elmira, NY. The exhibit will be on view from 16 March – 14 June 2019. For more information go to ArnotArtMuseum.org.
2018 Northeast Regional Pastel Exhibition at View Arts, 3273 State Route 28, Old Forge, NY. The exhibit will run from June 23 – July 29, 2018. For more information go to ViewArts.org. This piece has been awarded Second Place.
Finalist in the Gateway International Painting Competition, September 2017.
Award of Merit, The Guild of Boston Artists 2017 Regional Juried Exhibition. Please view the exhibit at The Guild of Boston Artist in the President’s Gallery, Newbury Street, Boston, September 9 – 30, 2017. For more information please go to GuildofBostonArtists.org.
BoldBrush Online Painting Competition, Outstanding Pastel Award February 2017 and FAV 15% (jury’s favorite 15% of entries).
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The Model
The Model | pastel on paper | 2016 | 17.75″ h x 14.75″ w | Private Collection
Every painting presents a new challenge in some fundamental way. The Model started with a new material I had never tried before – sueded paper. There are subtle differences in the way soft pastel is applied to each substrate. Looking for the inspiration for the pose, I found a fashion show featuring a woman with an impassive look, turning away from the viewer, wearing a thickly knit sweater. The juxtaposition between her expressionless demeanor and the warm sweater appealed to me. Additionally, her exceptionally elongated features forced me to really study this particular head instead of falling back on familiar anatomical details. Multiple light sources further complicated the subject. I love challenges, and this painting rolled several challenges into one very enjoyable experience.
Sedona Arts Center’s April online show, Artists Choice Award.
Sedona Art Prize April 2017
American Women Artist’s exhibition, May 24 – September 14, 2019, at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
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Clammer
Mount Vision soft pastels on Canson toned paper from a photo taken on the Back River in Maine. Capturing the rhythm of the water was challenging. The man may be clamming or worming, I don’t really know. 10 x 16
Art Preservation Institute 2022 Curator’s Juried Art Competition, April 1 – May 31 2022, Honorable Mention
ARTinME, 2018 Boothbay Regional Art Foundation show, located at 1 Townsend Avenue, Boothbay Harbor, ME. The exhibit will run from October 14 – November 12, 2018. For more information go to boothbayartists.org.
Art Muse Juried Online Painting Competition, April 2018, Emerging Artist Finalist
“A wonderful capture of the translucent subtitles of water and reflections. I especially liked the use of a limited palette. Excellent composition.” – Michael Godfrey, Art Muse Judge for April 2018
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Blanche
A pencil drawing (c.1983) of my grandmother from a photo when she was about three years old. Her mother was a seamstress and made all of the clothing she wore. In a Brooklyn doorway about 1920.
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Michelangelo’s Dying Slave
Michelangelo’s Dying Slave cast drawing in charcoal. Done at the ARA Boston, 2016.
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Dubois’ Roman Woman
Carbon and brush. Master copy of Dubois’ Roman Woman. Done at the ARA Boston Bargue course, 2015.
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Piping Plovers
First pastel painting of 2014. From several photos taken at Reid State Park in Maine.
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Exhibits
Era Contemporary Gallery “Legends of the Moon”, November 26 2022 – January 15 2023, “XIII”.
In addition to the exhibition a digital version of the painting will be included in the Lunar Codex: Polaris Mission. “The Polaris Collection” is associated with an Astrobotic Griffin/NASA VIPER mission, carrying a time capsule that will land in the vicinity of the Lunar South Pole. This will be the first significant placement of contemporary arts on the Moon in 50 years.
Pastel Society of America Award
The Arnot Art Museum houses a world class collection of realist paintings and sculpture. I’m humbled to have “Brad” included in their 76th Regional Exhibition, opening 15 March. Please attend this outstanding show featuring 81 works of contemporary realism. The exhibit is on view from 16 March to 14 June 2019 at the Arnot Art Museum, 235 Lake Street, Elmira, NY. For more information go to arnotartmuseum.org.
American Women Artists Associate with Distinction member, Jodie Kain, is honored to announce “The Model” has been selected to be included in the Steamboat Art Museum’s exhibit “Looking West”. The exhibition is open from May 24 through September 14 2019. Please attend “Looking West”, featuring selected works by women artists, at the Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
For more information:
americanwomenartists.org
www.steamboatartmuseum.org
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I am honored to have my painting “God Is My Judge”, modeled by my good friend Daniel, included in the 2018 Guild of Boston Artists Annual Regional Juried Exhibition. The Guild is located at 162 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. The exhibit will run from September 8 – 29, 2018. For more information go to GuildofBostonArtists.org.
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I am honored to have the portrait of my husband Brad, and “Light Embrace“, modelled by my good friend Carol and her kitty Beacon, included in the 2018 Northeast Regional Pastel Exhibition at View Arts, 3273 State Route 28, Old Forge, NY. The exhibit will run from June 23 – July 29, 2018. For more information go to ViewArts.org.
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americanwomenartists.org/2018-spring-online-juried-show.html
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What a thrill to be selected to show “Boothbay Afternoon” and “Clammer” at this year’s ARTinME show. Please attend the exhibit at the Boothbay Regional Art Foundation, 1 Townsend Avenue, Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The exhibit will run from October 14 – November 12, 2018. For more information go to boothbayartists.org
“Boothbay Afternoon” | charcoal & white conté | 16″x11.5″
“Clammer” | soft pastel on laid paper | 10″x16″
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I am honored to have the portrait of my husband Brad included in the Annual Regional Juried Exhibition of The Guild of Boston Artists, Newbury Street, Boston. The exhibit will run from September 9 – 30, 2017. For more information go to GuildofBostonArtists.org.
Jodie Kain 