When the covid pandemic hit in spring 2020, Californian artist Jeannine Jourdan found a novel way to keep painting portraits – and get to know her neighbours in the Dartmoor village of Belstone.
She set out to paint everyone in the settlement in oils, with the intention of auctioning the works for good causes in the village.
And this coming weekend – May 4, 5 and 6 – her 70 paintings of local couples, families and individuals duly go on show at four village venues – the village hall and St Mary’s Church (open 10am - 5pm); and the Methodist Chapel and The Old School tearooms (2pm to 5pm). Parking is available at Belstone car park opposite the village hall and entry is free.
All the pictures are being donated by Jeannine, whose portraits typically fetch £1,000, with all proceeds to go towards new windows for the village hall, renovations to the parish church and the project to create a new changing pavilion at Belstone Cricket Club.
She stresses that there is "no obligation" for anyone to buy their portrait. The paintings will not bear price tags, with those who would like to buy one encouraged to make her an offer.
Jeannine said: “This was a great way to get to know everyone. I’m a portrait painter and it was at the very beginning of the pandemic. I normally have subjects come and sit in the studio but we couldn’t do that because of covid and we didn’t know how long it was going to go on for, did we? So I thought I’ll get people to come in and sit so I can keep painting portraits. I thought if I asked everyone it might be easier for people to take part. It was a mad idea really.”
The Florence and California-trained painter added: “This was an opportunity for me to keep painting and for the people I painted to get a portrait if they wanted one and also for the church and village hall to benefit. It is good for me and hopefully for the village too.”
Jeannine, whose mother and grandfather on her father’s side of the family were both artists too, has been coming to the area on and off for the best part of 40 years with her Spreyton-born husband. However, the couple only settled in the area from the US ten years ago when his elderly parents needed care.
She is a graduate of the Californian Institute of the Arts and the Charles Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy where she lived for three years.
She has held exhibitions in her home county of Marin near San Francisco, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandfather.
“As a blow-in and a relatively recent newcomer to Belstone, it was a great way of getting to know fellow villagers and also benefiting the village through picture sales and donations,” she said.
She hopes that people will come along to see themselves in oils, maybe buy a canvas and have a piece of cake and cup of tea, all to benefit village good causes. See jeanninejourdan.com
