Webster Art Gallery - Alberta Artist

Jean Geddes was born in Alberta and lives in Calgary with her husband Dean.

Jean studied drawing and painting at a very young age, and began painting in oils at age 12. Her adult art education includes evening courses at the Alberta College of Art, specialized courses for oil painters at Scotsdale Artists' School, and seminars with selected master artists. She has been painting, and studying art, almost all her life. Although accomplished in several media, Jean enjoys the challenge of painting in oils and now uses that medium almost exclusively.

Her subject matter is diverse. She is well-known for her treatment of the mountain landscape. However, Jean's sphere of artistic interest also includes city and rural scenes, florals and still lifes, the horse, the human figure, and the oceans, boats and small harbours of Canada's east and west coasts.

She and Dean have traveled extensively throughout Canada and the western United States to paint and gather subject matter. Jean derives great pleasure from her frequent opportunities to paint "en plein-air" with other artists who also enjoy the challenge of painting outdoors. Her studio work is based in large part on the enhancement of works developed in the field.

Jean is highly regarded as a teacher, critic and jurist. For many years she conducted specialized courses for experienced oil painters. Currently, she critiques artists’ works at sessions held from time to time at Swintons’ Art Supplies and Studios, and serves as jurist for various groups and individuals. She has participated in the Calgary Stampede Art Auction since 1986 and has also been juried into the Charlie Russell Art Auction in Great Falls, Montana.

She has been a painting professionally since 1978.

ARTIST STATEMENT

"I started oil painting when I was 12, and except for occasional work in pastels and watercolours, I remain an oil painter.

My art education was directed mostly towards pleasure, especially when I was a very young art student. Although I had many teachers over the years, there was the common thread among them that the student's enjoyment of the activity was of major importance. As I matured, I became more serious about my art education, but the essential element of loving what I did was never abandoned.

As a young person I would draw anything, and that still holds true today. I have painted a wide range of subjects, and have learned that there is beauty and colour in even the most ordinary object if one looks hard enough. Although I am considered mostly a mountain landscape painter, many other subjects interest me, not the least of which are the boats and harbours of Canada's coasts.

My first outdoor painting experience was at Stanley Park in Vancouver, when I was 14. That added a whole new dimension to my art education, and was the first tiny step towards what is my approach to painting today. Although I much prefer to paint the landscape from life, there are many conditions in this part of the world that prohibit artists from doing so, winter weather being the most obvious one. Because I have been trained to paint what I see, not what I think or might imagine, I often have to rely on my landscape photos when the real thing is not available. Otherwise, my indoor painting is of models and still lifes.

I go on many trips each year, and almost all are planned so that I can have ample opportunity to paint outdoors. Dean and I have visited, and I have painted in, locations as diverse as the Apache Trail in Arizona and Ingonish Harbour in Cape Breton, to name but two. Between these more lengthy trips, I will often meet with other plein air artists for a day or two of field work, or simply go it alone.

Some of my field paintings are finished on site. Others may need only minor studio touch-ups. A few require more extensive work. Then there are those that are consigned to the great gallery in the sky!

My plein air palette has become quite limited over the years, and is mostly comprised of two of each of the primary colours and a very few select others. I employ more or less the same palette in my studio, although I do avail myself of the many other colours available there. One benefit of mixing most of my secondary and tertiary colours myself is that every mix is different, and so is every painting. I like that variance.

I am a dedicated artist. I continue to challenge myself to become a better painter, chasing that elusive goal of perfection all artists strive for."