Our new art show at Eclipse features landscape oil paintings by Betsy Kendrick.

Most of the paintings in this show were created in the fall of 2022, either in Asheville around the River Arts District or in Shelby, North Carolina where the artist currently calls home. Most of the work was painted onsite (“plein air”) in oil.

Kendrick’s work is representational, and she enjoys being in front of her subject in real life, rarely using photos for reference. She uses impressionistic techniques, which contribute to her abstracted compositions. When looking up close at these paintings one may only see smudges of paint, but as the viewer provides some distance from the work, the painting becomes a unified whole.

Kendrick studied painting and drawing at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore Maryland and at the Leo Marchutz School in Aix-en-Provence, France. Her teachers in France introduced her to the world of “plein air” painting, and she feels enormously grateful for the experience.

Kendrick raised her children and became a working artist in Asheville, and spent her formative years in Shelby. Painting in these places where milestone memories were formed is especially satisfying subject matter.

Kendrick is happiest when outside, so live painting in and of the landscape is meant to capture the joy of being a part of this beautiful world.