Jennifer Downey

Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches, 2012

This painting highlights the wild, open skies of the Western U.S.

Oil on canvas, 28 x 40 inches, 2012, $1125 + tax

As part of my research about how dams affect riverine ecosystems, I canoed Lake Sonoma, a reservoir created by the 1970s Warm Springs dam in Sonoma County. What fascinated me most while paddling were the stands of submerged trees, which were clustered along the lake’s edge and into the narrow ravines that broke off from the lake body. Oaks and redwoods stood ghostly still, submerged mid-trunk in the green-tinted water.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches, 2013, $1075 + tax

The inspiration for the rock walls in the landscape is from an iconic canyon gorge in Zion National Park.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, 2011, $875 + tax

As part of my research about how dams affect riverine ecosystems, I canoed Lake Sonoma, a reservoir created by the 1970s Warm Springs dam in Sonoma County. What fascinated me most while paddling were the stands of submerged trees, which were clustered along the lake’s edge and into the narrow ravines that broke off from the lake body. Oaks and redwoods stood ghostly still, submerged mid-trunk in the green-tinted water.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches, 2011, $1100 + tax

Both background and figure are inspired by some beautiful old found photographs.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 24x48 inches, 2009, SOLD

While living on the west coast of Ireland, I toured the Ring of Kerry. What struck me most about this stark and beautiful landscape was how the dark silhouetted hills would disappear and reappear as the clouds wove a path through the landscape.

Oil on Canvas, 28 x 42 inches (diptych), 2009, $1175 + tax

The tree trunks and branches depicted in this painting are inspired by New Zealand Tea Trees – a marvelously gnarly, twisty species.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 24 x 44 inches, 2008, $1050 + tax

Oakland’s historic Lake Merritt is encircled by New Zealand Tea Trees – a marvelously gnarly, twisty species.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches, 2008, $975 + tax

The title of this piece refers to that late winter/early springtime in California when the branches (eucalyptus here) are bare and the meadows are a mix of dry grey reedy weeds and new green grass.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 44 inches, 2007, $1325 + tax

While in Tucson, Arizona, I was traveling down the freeway when I suddenly found myself under an immense storm system. The glow of the far-off horizon offered an incredible contrast.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches, 2007, $1200 + tax

While doing some research, I came across the beautiful ice-scape photography of Frank Hurley (1885-1962), who was the official photographer aboard the ‘Endurance’ as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition from 1914-1917. Hurley’s images worked their way into this painting, which touches on the fragility of our natural world.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 26 x 48 inches, 2006, $1250 + tax

This painting was inspired by a hike in California’s Point Reyes area, where I travelled through a forest that had been cleared by a wildfire. The mist was so thick that you could see it rolling by, obscuring the farthest trees, and billowing over the dark trunks of the closer ones. A desolate, sublime and beautiful scene.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 32 x 44 inches, 2006, $1400 + tax

The background of this painting was inspired by a cool spring hike in the Point Reyes area of California. The forest on the horizon was reduced to shades of gray, standing against a background of hazy grey sky.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 44, 2006, $1300 + tax

This landscape is inspired by countless drives up and down interstate I-5, through California’s farming region, where lush and well-irrigated crops stretch to the horizon until they meet the dry, barren hills that encircle the Central Valley.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 42 x 34 inches, 2006, $1400 + tax

The reedy marshes of Tomales Bay in Northern California inspired this landscape.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 inches, 2006, $1000 + tax

On a road connecting the coast of California to the state’s interior, I stopped at a vista point halfway through – where the fog had crept in and settled on the valley floor beneath the hills that spilled towards the coast.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches, 2005, SOLD

I spent a year living on the west coast of Ireland, and have vivid memories of the rich, lush rolling green hills. Intense storms sweep over that land to create incredible contrasts of dark and light on the landscape.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches, 2007, SOLD

In this painting, I tried to capture the ephemeral nature of fog sliding in and out of forest landscapes; this particular forest is in Guerneville, California.

Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, 2007, $1300 + tax

This painting was inspired by a fallen, sun-bleached tree at Mt. Diablo in the San Francisco Bay Area.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.

Oil on canvas, 42 x 36”, 2005, $1500 + tax

As a Northern California native, the oak-dotted and undulating hills of the region will always be part of my DNA.

To purchase, please visit the purchase gallery.