Judith Judy brings Radiance in Landscapes to Philip Morton Gallery June 20

Artist Judith Judy has mastered the ability to translate nature’s expressive power onto canvas. In her show at Philip Morton Gallery, Judy captures the mystifying feelings of nature’s overwhelming and fantastic beauty.

Judy’s luminous paintings combine layers of oil paints with materials such as gold leaf, to become breathtaking compositions. While the paintings’ images are grounded in nature, Judy’s scenes transcend their earthly physicality and take on a heavenly aura.

Judy paints in oils on board prepared with gesso, which provides a chalky white backdrop. For some of these pictures, she adds gold or copper leaf, amplifying the sheen. Rather than render distinct areas of shiny metal, as classical painters once did, she works the gold or copper into the multiple glazes of thin pigment, a technique that provides a loose, mottled luminosity.

Aside from the complimentary metallic shades, yellow is often the key to Judy’s pictures, representing leaves, grass or diffused sun. She uses crimson less frequently but just as vividly. “Red Tree” shows a small blur of scarlet foliage at the center of a mostly verdant environment, while “Last Sunrise” is a tangle of green, highlighted by glimmers of ruddy twilight that seep through. Dark shades are not unknown in Judy’s work; there are shadows beneath the trees, and loamy soil along stream beds. But the browns and blacks, like the greens, are just there to make the hotter colors blaze more brightly.

In addition to her U.S. exhibits, she has exhibited in France and Italy; in 2009, her work was featured at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art as part of its European Capital of Culture celebration. The museum acquired two pieces for its permanent collection seeing an updated American landscape tradition in her vision.

Judy was one of the featured artists in Washington Spaces magazine’s summer 2007 article “Celebrating Art: A look at the Regions Artistic Diversity”. Her work is also the subject of critical review by Florie Gilbard and Eleanor Kennelly, and is finding its way into private collections in the United States and abroad.

Judith Judy maintains studios in both Northern Virginia and Fenwick Island. She received a degree in fine art from Towson University in Baltimore, Md., and further studied oil painting in various classes and workshops.

A wine and hors d’oeuvres opening reception to meet Judy and view this exhibit is set Saturday, June 20, from 6 to 830 p.m., at the gallery. Everyone is welcome to attend. The exhibit runs through July 7.

A preview of the show is currently displayed on Philip Morton Gallery’s Facebook page.

The Philip Morton Gallery is located at 47 Baltimore Ave. in Rehoboth Beach, between the Blue Moon and Aqua. For details contact 302-727-0905, philipmortongallery.com or info@philipmortongallery.com.