​Jessica Newman / Selected Artwork / Biography / Artist Statement / Past Exhibitions

Jessica  Newman - Artist  Statement

​When I was a child, my grandmother saw me walking around in the middle of the night, and said, “You’re a night owl, just like me.” At the time, I didn’t know what she meant. It soon became clear to me that most people were daytime people, and unfortunately for me, the scheduled events of the world (like school, work, socializing) take place on their schedule. There is a beauty in the solitude of being a night owl. The kind of quiet that only happens while most people are still.
 
I have always painted at night in my studio. Usually cityscapes and buildings, from subject photos that I took at sunset when the light is rich and golden-pink.  Now I am exploring the nighttime world, my world. Subtle black silhouettes of trees and buildings on dark-gray skies, with twinkling lights of downtown in the distance. I am now obsessed with painting nightscapes and how the minimal information of lights and darks create a recognizable cityscape.
 
I have spent the last twenty years working and teaching in architecture and design. My love of the built environment is obvious in my paintings, as I celebrate the buildings that I see.