SEQUIM — Blue Whole Gallery will host a reception for Jeannine Chappell and Jane Smith from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.
The reception will celebrate their new exhibit, “A Walk in the Woods.”
Chappell paints with acrylic on panel and paper while Smith is a gourd artist who also paints repurposed items like tea pots.
But the two share a source of inspiration, the woods.
Chappell grew up among the southern pines of Georgia and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area with its oaks for many years. Now on Olympic Peninsula, she is creating her current series of abstract tree paintings.
In these works, she pays homage to trees as the source of life and oxygen and as the provider of shelter and protection.
Smith was born in Hawaii among tropical trees, but most of her life has been spent in the largely treeless desert of the Southwest.
When Smith gets stuck on a project or is lacking inspiration, she heads for the woods to clear her head. She loves the silence and finds a walk in the woods stimulates her senses and creativity.
“A Walk in the Woods” can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays at Blue Whole Gallery, 129 W. Washington St., throughout July.
For more information, call the gallery at 360-681-6033 or visit www.bluewholegallery.com.