13 Best Pointed-Round Art Paintbrushes

Bestselling Pointed-Round Art Paintbrushes in 2023

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

The Art in Architecture

Jane Tannehill Perry is an architect and an artist whose work combines the two. Her watercolors, prints and vintage-inspired pins were the visual treat of a recent show.

I attended Jane's opening in June of 2020, and was intrigued by the scope of her technical abilities. Her watercolor painting of an old church is an excellent example of how carefully she blends the background around a building so that the building appears to actually exist in the soft, still world that she has created on the canvas. Her buildings fit into their backgrounds, but are not lost there. The soft watercolors invite you to step closer as Jane avoids the harsh jarring colors and lines so often found in commercial work.

Jane started painting birds less than a year ago, although she's painted botanicals, flowers, and trees for several years. The natural subjects provided her a sideline that served as a change from her architectural drawings. However, the trees have always been an important an element in Jane's architectural drawings. She states, "Trees are especially important in architecture because they give scale and allow people to associate themselves with the building."

Jane follows a precise process to complete an architectural drawing.

First, she goes to the building site where she takes photographs from many angles. She learns as much as possible about the historical background of the building and the people who have used it.

Then, she completes several quick, small studies of the building, including compositional studies, value studies, and color studies. She posts these on the wall around her work area and uses them to keep the work true throughout the process. The studies are especially important for maintaining the correct levels of diffuse light and the relative amounts of contrast between the elements of a building.

The entire building is rendered in a pen and ink drawing, and then copied on a light table. The last step is to watercolor the background and scenery, which should accent the building rather than overwhelm it.

Jane was educated at Rice University in Houston, Texas. During her years at Rice, she decided that architecture allowed her to narrow the field of art from an open-ended domain to a structured field with boundaries. Architecture required both her academic strengths in mathematics and her artistic skills in drawing. It drew on her logical skills as well as her creative skills for every project, providing her a balance that neither mathematics nor art alone could give her.

Her first big success was during graduate school, when she entered a national design competition. She placed second in the National Wood Design Competition for an individual entry (design of a country club ). She also worked on a project as a member of a team. Her team developed a project for a low income area of Houston. They realized that the existing roads pointed towards churches and that those churches were important cultural and social icons for the local people. The team's new design emphasized the churches. Using good presentation skills, they were able to relate well to the judges. Although they competed against several of the larger architecture schools, Rice took first place the year Jane's team competed.

She was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to Sweden, representing the United States through the Department of State. Fulbright Scholars are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential to "to observe each others' political, economic, educational and cultural institutions, to exchange ideas and to embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world's inhabitants".

While in Sweden, Jane learned from architectural greats such as Ralph Erskine. He was known for his town planning and his emphasis on how buildings related physically and socially to their settings. His writings and work with nature were influential on Jane's work, especially his work on multi-family, high density housing. She was intrigued by how Erskine integrated sunlight, weather, climate, light, and culture into building forms.

Jane brings specific skills that are valuable in both art and architecture. She takes a direct approach to buildings and to solving clients' problems. She's able to listen well and express intuitively the building design elements the client is most seeking. Her rendering work is of highly competitive quality, enhanced by her extensive presentation and conceptional design skills. She uses her art to add depth to architecture, while using architecture to give her art an in-depth awareness of building structure.

New projects or new methods are a challenge for every artist, including Jane. She finds it easy to forget that her initial hesitations are usually followed by brilliant successes. Her bird paintings and jewelry are relatively new projects for Jane, and the results are definite successes.

Jane, in describing the perfect result of architectural work, says, "Structure can free people to get what they need done rather than to be constrained by the design of the building."

She advises new artists or architects to find someone whose work they admire, and then follow that person's career. Learn from their successes. Also, realize that people need to be inspired, but that the inspiration must be presented within conventional forms that people can understand and relate to. Finally, look for a mentor and for contacts in the field to learn what works and what doesn't without having to learn everything firsthand.

Her plans for future work include additional paintings of birds and native plants as well as more paintings of houses that tell the stories behind them. Her studies in the Bay County Master Gardener program allow her to expand her knowledge about the plants she plans to paint. Jane also plans to continue working with the Junior Museum of Bay County and hopes to teach art locally, especially to school-aged children.

When asked what work she'd most like to be remembered for, Jane replied, "I'd like people to feel that I captured the personality of the buildings I draw. I approach my work with a lot of sympathy and a lot of heart. I would also like them to see that the work is technically excellent." And Jane's attitude is the main reason she puts art in architecture.