Donald Jurney was born in Rye, New York, in 1945, and was educated at Columbia University, the Pratt Institute, and the Art Students League. Nearly thirty years ago, he began his career with a one-man show at a temporary gallery space—the first of some twenty sold-out solo exhibitions. Over the years, Jurney has lived and worked in the Hudson River Valley, England, and in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, and has painted extensively in France and the West of Ireland. His work is firmly rooted in the great plein air landscape tradition. The overall effect of Jurney’s paintings is serenity and beauty, though close observation reveals an expert handling of paint; with sure skill he combines dry brush, impasto, and glazing techniques. The artist’s process typically begins on location, with a pencil sketch; back in the studio, Jurney begins to bring the painting to life. Guided by intuition, he might place a stroke of lively orange, scumble a highlight across the surface of a lake, or create a dense matrix of delicate green brush strokes that coalesce into a tree in full leaf. Bearing the impression of the particular setting in which they were conceived, Jurney’s paintings are a summons to celebrate the poetry of the everyday beauty of nature.
The artist now lives and maintains a studio on the North Shore of Boston where he continues to focus on sharing his distinct and inspiring vision of the landscape.
“Often a painting is a conversation between disparate shapes and forms, ... here brilliant, there disguised---in a carefully-conceived dance of light. This may be a celebration of a place, perhaps, or an investigation of an evanescent mood. For the viewer who has both the time and inclination to really look, one hopes to afford, by way of a painted surface wrought of subtleties, the opportunity to explore at leisure the wonder of the world in which we live.” - Donald Jurney