A Journey in Nature: Paintings, Drawings and Calligraphy

By Jeannie Brendler

This book takes a unique approach to exploring the joys of nature by combining beautiful floral paintings with pen and ink animal drawings. Companion passages to these works may be found throughout the book, skillfully hand-calligraphied in a variety of typefaces. The titles of several of the paintings make the viewer aware that a specimen of wildlife is concealed therein. You will savor the pages with the artist as your guide.

Brendler has always been intrigued by the architecture of flowers. She likes to imagine herself walking around inside the flower looking at its structure or even surmising what the view might be looking out through the petals. She has a special interest in gardening and photography. From early spring until late fall, she walks along her trails, observing and photographing the insects, birds, and other creatures that move among the flowers. In the winter, she produces large acrylic paintings.

The dining area of her home features a large wall that the artist has painted floor to ceiling. She has depicted a scene where the trees sway over your head and a red-tailed hawk is just lighting on a top branch. In another tree, a gray squirrel is hiding near its nest as the white puffy clouds race across the blue sky. At your feet are boulders along the Wilson River. A rabbit is crouching among the flowers and grasses as a monarch butterfly visits the bounty of the landscape. On the other side of the river, a horse grazes in the pasture, a fiddle player sits on a rock practicing, and in the distance are the Blue Ridge Mountains. While viewing the painting, you truly feel the presence of nature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514459225

Jeannie Brendler

A native of Virginia, Jeannie Brendler grew up in a farming community and was inspired to become an artist by her uncle John Hilt. He played the fiddle, carved wooden sculptures, and loved taming the wild birds. John taught that everything one does should be of quality and that education is the key to a successful life. The artist graduated from both Bluefield Junior College and Radford University. She also completed further course study at Mount Vernon College, George Washington University, American University, and Northern Virginia Community College. She was a recipient of the McGraw-Hill National Educational Publications Award, given annually in recognition of the artist’s design of promotional materials for the NEA. Brendler worked for fifteen years as an artist, calligrapher, and photographer for the Fairfax County Office of Communications and as art director for Fairfax County public schools. After leaving Northern Virginia, she taught art and calligraphy at Anson Community College in North Carolina. Now retired, the artist has a llama ranch and lives with her husband in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Gaining inspiration from the beauty of the Blue Ridge, she produces large paintings of nature while continuing to create and design various art projects. She has now turned her attention to the book-publishing industry.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Jeannie Brendler. 732186

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016902202

ISBN:   Softcover         978-1-5144-5923-2

              Hardcover        978-1-5144-5924-9

              EBook              978-1-5144-5922-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/07/2016

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DEDICATION

I WOULD LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO

ALBERT OTIS HILT, MATTIE ELIZABETH GRIFFITTS HILT

AND JOHN