About the Artist
Plein-air painting
Jeanean painting on location
Jeanean Songco Martin is a painter and art educator . She has a B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art. and has been concentrating on landscape and figurative painting for forty years. Jeanean loves painting the Maryland countryside as well as traveling to distant locations to teach and to work and is very active in the arts community with portrait, life drawing and plein air groups. She has taught at Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College, Hood College,Montgomery College, Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, Rockville ArtsPlace. She has conducted plein-air workshops nationally in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia,Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Georgia, South Carolina and internationally in Ireland,England, France and Germany. She exhibits widely and has had exhibits at major universities and colleges. Jeanean is a member of the Oil Painters of America, Portrait Society of America, Maryland Federation of Art.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
“In my work, I try to empathize with the retinal image, to try to find a connection in creating a “felt” sense of structure, form and value. I am a very tonal painter and utilize the value structure to create a sense of drama.
I always begin very gestural and loose; trying to get at the inner structure first to re-create the movement inside the form. My marks are results of a building process; strokes building form, creating a sense of depth and three-dimensionality. Color is introduced sometimes gently, inviting the thin washes to come into play or attacking the elusive momentary light condition with alla-prima painting. The thick and juicy stuff of paint is what I love and hope to preserve on the surface. I work towards a contrast of subtle passages with soft tones or rich glazes and strong direct painting continuously building, refining and reducing the image to its essential core."
My working method for the landscapes is to paint en plein-air. The small to medium sized works are done alla prima with very little change once brought into the studio. I do make some adjustments and additions but am very cautious not to lose the "freshness" from direct observation. They are "moments in time". I will sometimes return to the same place and the same time of day and weather conditions to continue working on a larger plein-air piece on consecutive days. I have been known to drag really large canvasses out of doors and work on site. I do still enjoy doing that because of the energy in the mark from a direct connection to the "physical experience" that is sometimes lost when working in the studio I also work in the studio from smaller plein-air paintings to create more formal and much larger interpretations. I use my sketchs and photographs for referencing but only after working on the site and being familiar with the landscape can I successfully interpret the forms and especially the color correctly. There is no substitute for actually "being there". The challenge is to keep the same energy and fluid mark that sparked the first impression.
EDUCATION:
1975-1980: B.F.A. Cum laude in Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD.
1972-1974: Prince Georges Community College, Largo Md.
TEACHING AND RELATED HONORS:
2016 - Common Ground on the Hill, McDaniel College , every July for 20 yrs.
2015 -The Yellow Barn Studio, Glen Echo MD
2015-2011 The Griffin Art Center, Frederick MD
2014: Plein air workshop France
2013: Carroll Community College, part time adjunct Fall semester, Westminster, MD
Plein Air workshop – Boghill Centre, Kilfenora, Co. Clare Ireland
2012: Plein air workshops Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu New Mexico, Taos NM
2011: Invitational : Teaching Studios of Art, Oyster Bay NY Plein Air Competition
The Maryland Society of Portrait Painters and Oil Painters of America
Plein air workshop England at Dedham Hall , Munich, Garmish-Farchant, Germany
2010: Plein air workshops in France May 17-30, New Mexico Sep. 20-30th
2009: Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College:. Private workshops: Three Days Three Farms – Fairfield, PA. Plein Air New Mexico -Sep. 17-28th 2008: Plein air workshops, Co. Kerry Ireland, Charleston SC, Tybee Island, GA,
2008-95: Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College taught painting and drawing
2007: Plein air workshops Chincoteague Island, Va, Harpers Ferry, WV
2006: Conducts “plein air” landscape workshops on site. Private and group lessons. Monitor for portrait and life drawing groups.
2005: Artist-in-Residence: I-Park, East Haddam, Connecticut
2000: Montgomery College, Rockville, MD. Basic painting. Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick, MD. Basic painting, Drawing, Pastel
1996-97: Hood College. Landscape Painting
1997-93: Rockville Arts Place, Rockville, MD. Basic Drawing, , Life Drawing
1993-95: Artist-in-Residence: Hood College
EXHIBITIONS:
2025: MSPP Maryland Society of Portrait Painters, Quiet Waters Gallery, Annapolis Md. group show
Hood College , Hodson Gallery. Frederick Portrait Group , group show
2024: ReMEMBERS: NOMA Alumni Invitational, December 6-30th
2023: NOAPS 33rd Best of America International Juried Exhibition
NOAPS Online International Spring Juried Exhibition
2020: Maryland Federation of Art , Annapolis MD
2018: Maryland Federation of Art Water Works Exhibition
2016. PAPNM group show Sorrel Sky Gallery, Taos, NM
2015: Annapolis Maritime Museum "Water Works"
Kentlands Mansion Five-Person Portrait Show with MPA (Montgomery Portrait Artist)
Group Invitational: Maryland Society of Portrait Painters, Quiet Waters Gallery, Annapolis, MD
2014: New Mexico Land of Enchantment – Group show Talon Gallery and McCutcheon Gallery, Frederick MD Montgomery Portrait Artist – Carroll Arts Council
2013: Solo show - "Figures & Landscapes" - The Rebecca McCutcheon Griffin Gallery - Griffin Art Center, Frederick , MD
Invitational "Strokes of Genius" MFA Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD
Four-Person Portrait Show with Montgomery Portrait Artists - Glenview Mansion Art Gallery -January 2013
2012 : Gilchrest Museum , Cumberland MD Two Person show
2012: MPA (Montgomery Portrait Artist) - VisArts, Rockville, MD
Group Invitational: Maryland Society of Portrait Painters, Quiet Waters Gallery, Annapolis, MD
2011: Exhibition at Sagamore Hill Oyster Bay Historical Society at the Koenig Center Gallery.
2011 Group Invitational "American Landscapes" MFA Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD 2010
2010 Hagerstown Fine Arts Museum, Maryland Society of Portrait Painters
2009: Arts Barn Portrait Group Show: June CGOH Faculty Exhibition: Rice Gallery, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD July
2008: CGOH Faculty Exhibition: Rice Gallery, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD
2007: Group Invitational: Carroll County Arts Center “Lay of the Land”
2006: Solo Exhibition: “Landscapes & Figures” Carroll Community College, Westminster, MD
2006: CGOH, Faculty Exhibition: Rice Gallery, , McDaniel College, Westminster 2005: Group Exhibition: I-Park, East Haddam, CT
2004-1995: Solo and two person exhibits annually: Artist Gallery, Frederick, MD
1995: Group Exhibition: Ximo43, Basel, Switzerland 1994: Faculty Exhibition: Rockville Arts Place
1993: Solo Exhibition: Sugar & Frichtl Gallery, Kensington, MD
1992: “Free State” Maryland Artist, Rockville Arts Place, Rockville, MD
1991: Solo Exhibition: Rossig’s Frame Shop, New Market, MD Group Exhibition: Handwork’s Gallery, Kensington, MD
1990: Group Exhibition: Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association (juried show, 2nd place) Group Exhibition: Germantown Art League, Germantown, MD “Two Friends” Jefferson Plaza, Rockville, MD
1989: Solo Exhibition: Frame World, Bethesda, MD
1985: Alumni Exhibition: Prince George’s Community College
1981-85: Studio Tours: Commissioned work: Portraits, Still Life, Landscapes
CURRENT AFFILIATIONS :
2020-2023 National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society
2020 -2023- Oil Painters of America
2009-2023: The Maryland Society of Portrait Painters
2011- 2023 Maryland Federation of Art
2010-2021 Plein Air Painters of New Mexico
2015: President of NOMA Gallery, Frederick, MD
2014: MPA Montgomery Portrait Artist
2011, 2021 : Portrait Society of America
