You can practically feel the river breezes in Lani Browning’s landscapes that shimmer with light and color. An accomplished plein air painter, Browning recently moved to Centreville from Northern Virginia and is settling in and getting to know the Eastern Shore.
Her stunning exhibit of oil paintings, Landscape Impressions, the Eastern Shore and Beyond, is on view at Adkins Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center through Sept. 27. There will be a reception on Sat., Aug. 24 from 3 to 5 p.m. to meet the artist.
“There is so much beauty here,” Browning said. “I’m having great fun exploring the Eastern Shore.”
With its luxuriant trees and deeply shadowed shoreline reflecting in calm water, “Nanticoke River” captures the Eastern Shore’s quintessential peace and beauty. A multitude of greens and blues spread across the canvas as sunlight filters through soft white clouds and summer leaves.
This painting is part of a series focusing on the Nanticoke River that resulted from a partnership between The Nature Conservancy and The Washington Society of Landscape Painters, of which Browning is a member and serves as Archivist. Through the project, artists painted in the Conservancy’s sanctuaries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., areas set aside for the protection of sensitive ecosystems and rare and endangered species. A year later, Browning participated in a similar partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Association. Both projects culminated in exhibits, but they also helped to feed Browning’s love of the area.
It’s easy for those of us who live on the Eastern Shore to forget to notice its beauty in the rush of everyday life. Browning brings fresh eyes to this unique environment with its rich farmlands and varied waterways. For the Nature Conservancy project, she explored the coves and tributaries of the Nanticoke River with her brother-in-law, photographer Dave Harp. Three paintings from the series resulting from that trip are included in this exhibit.
“Dave took me out on his boat very early in the morning on the Nanticoke River,” she said. “This painting is actually from a photograph and field sketches because it’s too hard to paint on a boat. The smaller pieces are plein air, but for the larger ones I do plein air studies and then take them into the studio and develop them.”
An award-winning plein air painter for over 25 years, Browning exhibits frequently in the Washington area, as well as in New York and Vermont. She is represented locally by Easton’s South Street Gallery. Her painting “Mountain Song” was recently awarded the Academy Art Museum’s Design Award in its 2013 Annual Members’ Show.
Although she studied at Moore College of Art, the Corcoran School of Art and in Spain, Browning is largely self-taught. She also credits her skills to workshops given by her friend and mentor, the late Ross Merrill, a painter and the chief of conservation at the National Gallery of Art for many years. Thanks to her association with him, she has traveled to the Bahamas and France to paint. But like Merrill, who often painted on the Eastern Shore, she loves capturing the distinctive beauty of her new home.
Pointing to “Reed Creek Farm, Winter Sunset,” with its sooty clouds set aglow with golden light, she said, “That’s the view I have in the winter. I have an incredible view from where I live.”
This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Sept. 27 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410-634-2847, ext. 0 or [email protected] for gallery hours.
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