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For Jenny Williams, nature is both her inspiration and her preferred studio. An avid plein air (outdoor) landscape painter, Williams says she feels spoiled living in California, surrounded by its vast beauty.

A Bit of Paradise

“Wide open farmland, the Sierra, Sacramento Valley, American River, and California coastline are the inspiration for many of my landscape paintings.” 

Williams also enjoys painting pets, people, and still life. When she isn’t behind her easel, Williams teaches art classes to elementary-age students and special-needs youth. She also enjoys boating on Folsom Lake with her husband, three adult children, and “sausage dog” Chico.

Boats at Marina

Williams (jennywilliamsart.com) is a member of numerous arts groups and regularly participates in shows throughout the region.

California Cows

How did you get your start as an artist?

Growing up near San Francisco in the ’70s, I was exposed to many eccentric and creative individuals, including my parents who were beatniks/hippies. I credit my love of the outdoors and creative spirit to the many hours our family spent outdoors. Throughout school, I enjoyed expressing myself in both the visual and performing arts. Art gave me self-confidence.

Roses

Pink Peonies

In college, I initially majored in fine art and then changed to graphic design in the hope of landing a job when I graduated. While attending San Francisco State University, I spent a semester abroad studying studio art in England, where I took my first landscape painting course.

Sand Babies

After college, I worked in marketing and graphic design in Silicon Valley, but I didn’t care for the long, intense hours the commercial art world demanded. After 10 years, I was already burned out. I got married, had three wonderful children, and quit my job to raise our family. We moved to El Dorado Hills in 2008. It was such a pretty place to live with beautiful rolling hills, wide open spaces, and deer and peacocks roaming around the neighborhood. While the kids were in school, I was finally able to pick up my paintbrush again.

Golden Poppies

You primarily paint in oils. What appeals to you about this medium?

I’ve painted in oils, acrylics, and gouache, but I prefer oils. Oil paint produces richer colors that are more transparent and not as harsh as acrylics or gouache. My goal is to create color harmony using a limited palette where my color choices are closely related to each other. 

How would you describe your style? Has it evolved?

My style has evolved from being tight and controlled to more loose and expressive. As an impressionist painter, I use horizontal brushstrokes next to each other in dabs of thick paint. My color harmony has improved over the last 30 years. After taking many workshops and studying with some of the best painters in California, I’ve learned to use a limited palette of only a couple of each of the primary colors plus white and blue. Rarely do I use black.

I’ve also become less interested in getting something visually “perfect.” I’m more interested in expressing an emotion or telling a story than getting the drawing or painting technically accurate. Don’t get me wrong, I do like a nice drawing, but it’s not the most important thing I’m trying to achieve. 

How do you choose your subjects?

I look first for the inspiration. Does the location or scene inspire me? Does it evoke a feeling? If nothing grabs my attention, I move on.

Few sites present themselves ideally, so I sometimes have to exaggerate and make changes. I don’t make up the whole scene, but I find something that’s already there and then use what I know to compose a painting. For example, a painting of a eucalyptus tree might need a little help with its uninteresting foreground, so I might paint a shadow cast from a cloud to make it more interesting. 

What appeals to you about painting outdoors?

I’m not just observing nature when I paint, I’m soaking it in for hours at a time with a heightened sense of awareness. It’s like meditation or yoga for me. Painting en plein air brings my mind and body together, and I feel balanced. 

Painting outdoors is not an easy task, however. One needs to think about site selection, unpredictable weather, the fleeing sun, bees, bugs, other not-so-friendly animals (such as snakes), distractions from chatty onlookers, and other challenges. Despite these obstacles, I’m still drawn to it and believe my paintings are better when working in nature versus from a photo.

What do you hope viewers experience through your art?

I hope to share the beauty of the scene I’m visiting—to pull viewers in to see it. Whether it’s a reflection in a river, a patch of beautiful poppies on the hillside, or the grandness of the Sierra, nature’s beauty is all around us.  

by Jennifer Maragoni
Artist photo by Jyo Bhamidipati ©stylereadersmedia. Artwork photos courtesy of Jenny Williams.