Landscape Derivatives
About
“I think playing with color is as delicious as eating chocolate and I love chocolate!”
Jessica was born and spent her childhood in Kenya, on a farm near the Great Rift Valley, where she early on developed the appreciation of the land and rich colors of Africa that informs all her work. She was born into a family of seasoned artists - her great-grandfather is the well known 19th century South African artist Abraham de Smidt - so it was natural that her appreciation of the landscape and the light would find its expression in painting.
From Kenya, she moved to the UK to pursue her education; removed from the world she had grown up with, she turned to painting to express her feelings. Her work from those days expresses her longing for Africa.
After college, Jessica entered the financial world, first in London, then San Francisco. Although a banker, she continued to revel in rich colors in her clothing and in her environment. In California, she discovered what she describes as "American light", which produced changes in her painting style. A move to New York City to work on Wall Street, along with increasing family commitments, reduced the time available for painting, but she continued to experiment with paint and color.
Family vacations in Montana eventually led to a permanent move after Jessica retired from banking and returned to painting. For all the differences, the landscape and light in Montana reminds her of Kenya and inspires her current bold work. The move has paid off: Jessica has recently held two successful shows, selling the great majority of the paintings offered.
Jessica paints what she sees in the world around her, but with color choices based on what she feels. Her paintings are triggered by sights such as the richness of unmowed grass glowing on a summer evening, the first etching of frost on a fallen leaf, or the purple distances of the desert. Her work, saturated with rich colors, is the result of the rich life she has lived on three continents.