Category: Original Art Biography

Homeward Bound

Post author By admin
Post date February 2, 2023

Ten years ago I was caught in a snowstorm and almost didn’t make it home for the night. I worked in a department that was considered “vital”, Public Health Protection, so when the skies darkened and others worked from home my department was required to be there.

That night the roads were too dangerous to drive. I luckily caught a train to Brewster, NY and then an intrepid cab driver took me home.

This year, we have had no snow that accumulated breaking records of the least amount of snow for 50 years. I feel the change in the weather and the times and perhaps it is just the perspective you get as you age, but I feel a change. Whether it is global warming, changing El Nino or La Nina or the move out of the Holocene to the Antropocene I don’t know. But it is change that I feel a tad uneasy about. I came across a photo I took waiting and hoping for a cab at the train station and turned it into this drawing “Homeward Bound”.

Homeward Bound

Pen and Ink, Gouche, and Mica Paints

Tags Brewster NY, Home/Town, Homeward Bound, Judy Challis, New York, Pen and Ink, Putnam, Southeast NY, women artist

2021 art Covid 19 Art Original Art Biography Uncategorized

The Power of Touch

Post author By admin
Post date April 25, 2021

The Covid pandemic has been a time of solitude. Of coolness. Of stagnation. Now as we are getting our vaccines and lockdowns are starting to be lifted, we can once again start to experience the warmth of being with other people. I find a hug, just warms me to the core. Touch is a powerful thing.

“The Power of Touch” Oil on Canvas. 24 x 36 inches.

“The Power of Touch” Oil on Canvas 24 x 26 inches by Judy Challis, Brewster, NY

Tags art during covid 19, Brewster, Brewster NY, collectable artists, Covid art, emerging artists, healing art, Judy Challis, Loving art, my muse calls, soft pastel art

gallery Original Art Biography Uncategorized

Flour Power!

Post author By admin
Post date March 5, 2021

“Flour Power” In 2020 many people turned to the soothing art of baking while in lockdown. Here is my still life with my baking tools, instead of vases of flowers.

A few things happened during the pandemic. People, unable to go out, to entertain turned to cooking and crafts and art. I have always baked my own bread. One day I went to the store and not a single bag of flour was to be found, the same for yeast. I found alternate sources and instead of buying yeast by the jar, I had to buy it by the pound from commercial sites. I learned to bake with Einkorn flour and learned the nuances of the different types of artisanal flours and raised my baking to a new level. The scent of bread in the house made us feel secure, and the loaves that came out of my oven, eased the fears we might not be able to get one or another item. Still lives are usually done with flowers in elaborate silver vases on rich tablecloths. But during the pandemic, flour had power.

“Flour Power!” Oil on Canvas 22″ X 22″ by Judy Challis.

Tags 2020 pandemic art, art, art for a bakery, art gift for a baker, emerging artists, emerging women artists, Judy Challis, my muse calls, oil on canvas, oil painting, painting

2021 art Covid 19 Art Original Art Biography Uncategorized

Intermission

Post author By admin
Post date February 23, 2021

“Intermission” Oil on Canvas. I originally painted this solely as a background, but as I sat in front of it, about to paint some detail on top, I just felt soothed by the colors and the motion of the brush strokes. The painting said “I am, as I am, enough.” So after the Covid panic and the wild election season of 2020, a calm intermission. Let’s hope the play has a ending that pleases all.

“Intermission” Oil on Canvas by Judy Challis 2021

Tags abstract, art, Intermission Oil on Canvas, Judy Challis, Lifespan and Longevity, oil painting, Pink, purple, unrecognized women artists, Women artists collectable, Women artists on the rise

2020 Art Covid 19 Art Journal Entry Original Art Biography Uncategorized

Pandemic Painting

Post author By admin
Post date April 10, 2020

Between the Sea and the Sky

This is how the world feels to be right now. We all exist in a form of isolation between the sea and the sky. Summer is here, but it is not bright with plans of parties and BBQs. The world is split between those who believe Covid-19 is just another flu go out and catch it and get it over with, with little regard to others. And those who know the science that it causes inflammtion in the blood vessels of the lungs and much more and is very different and much more damaging than influenza. I watched neighbors throw Memorial Day Parties (against all directives). The county I live in, in NY, #PutnamCounty had zero new cases day after day before Memorial Day. But after the parties we have had ten new cases every day. I will muse about the future between the sea and the sky.

Owl Go Shopping Now

One thing that has changed has been how we go out and what people hoarded. It turned out what we most feared was not having toiliet paper. Now I can’t find paper napkins, I assume the factories are now making masks. It is making me wonder how much I really need. Why not just use the cloth napkins and wash them, that I usually save for company.

Owl go shopping now speaks to me about how we have to mask up and worry when we go out, but also on assessing needs. It seems I can get away with not having as much convenient disposible items. And that stuff made in China.. Oh no! #JustSayNo to #MadeinChina. Not only because of Covid-19 but also because of their poor human rights record.

Milan Memories 2020

“Milan Memories” I started painting this when most of the outbreak was in Milan. About a decade ago I visited cousins there, and remember a warm night, a restaurant by a canal, people dining, walking, talking socializing. This is my wish for a return to that normal.

Tags #JustSayNo to #MadeinChina, 2020, art during covid 19, chinaliedpeopledied, Judith Challis, Judy Challis, Memories, Milan, my muse calls, Night in Milan Art, pandemic, Pandemic painting, putnam county, putnam county new york

Journal Entry Original Art Biography Uncategorized

Owls and Birds

Post author By admin
Post date April 8, 2019

Birds and Owls

When I paint birds and owls, I look at how they interact with other animals and other birds. And then I think of how humans interact. Often we have modified our means of communication and travel so we communicate far beyond the local territory that constrains a bird.

Some of my paintings are meant to open the door to discussion, such as Hash-tag Hoot where the father owl is tweeting #Hoot on his cell phone. Or Odd Birds in the Family Tree, where in the same painting are found American Owls and owls found on far flung continents.

Here I have collected a few of them. Enjoy!

I admit, a few bears, and foxes and other critters snuck into the gallery as well.

Hash-Tag Hoot

Spin

My Cold Toes

Soar

Foxy Gets Married in the Enchanted Forest

The Trickster (aka Foxy) in Love.

In Your Dreams

Owl Power

(Painting not availble, donated for fund raising to the Ridgefield Guild of Artists)

Odd Birds in the Family Tree

Tags bears, Birds, foxes, Judith Challis, Judy Challis, oil painting, oil paintings for sale, online art gallery, owls, undiscovered art, undiscovered artists, whimsy

All Entries Original Art Biography Uncategorized

Musing about the Ocean

Post author By admin
Post date February 9, 2019

Rather than a snowy winter we have had a wet one. I think all that water inspired my muse to think about the ocean. Here are some watery thoughts for you!

As I painted this theme it became more and more abstract

Night Moves EXCITING NEWS! NIGHT MOVES WAS JUST ACCEPTED INTO THE RIDGEFIELD GUILD OF ARTISTS JURIED SHOW!

Tags abstract wave, blue and abstract, Judith Challis, Judy Challis, my muse calls, ocean, oil paintings for sale, original art for sale, The Art of Judy Challis, the top of the wave, visionary natural art, women

Journal Entry Original Art Biography

Owl Power!

Post author By admin
Post date December 28, 2018

I have to admit, I like painting and drawing owls. They will not be my finest artwork but they are the most fun!

Here is one I did while gallery sitting at Muscoot Farm, where some of my owls were in a show. I used my Derwent Inktense Water color pencils, I used a brush with water to blend them and then later when I got home, outlined bits in black ink to make it pop.

I have to admit I was a little miffed when Odd Birds in the Family Tree ended up in a dark hallway!

And poor Odd birds ended up alone!

But my Muse salved my miffedness when another art organization I belong to, asked for a donated canvas, they provided the canvas and then it was donated and sold to help support the organization. And what was the theme? BIRDS! So here is Owl Power!

I did he background in acrylic and the owl in Oil paint.

And that is how art sometimes comes into being!