“It’s a good combination of women, a variety of styles complement one another,” said Gallery Director Barbara Moore. “That’s the reason they were chosen, because of that. The floral patterns, the typical buckets barns and daisies, but it’s the handling of the oils, I think, that are particularly interesting this time that we don’t usually see in the area because we have a lot of water colors. It’s diverse. It’s something everyone should come and see because of the talent we have here. The pastels are beautiful this year, as well.”

One of the artists who enjoys working in oils is Chadds Ford resident Judy McCabe Jarvis.

Jarvis has shown at the gallery before, often in the annual Christmas in Miniature exhibit. She went with something different for the Women in Art show.

“[I put] city paintings in [with] what is traditionally Brandywine Style paintings. City painting is different than what they would generally hang here.”

Moore said Jarvis’ city scenes add a vibrancy and vitality to the show because they are so different than the normal art fare at the gallery, they don’t include buckets, barns or daisies.

Jarvis uses oil on canvas because she likes the tactile feeling of the paint and, “I like to paint in my painterly style, which means it’s not exactly representational or very detailed. It’s more of an interpretive expression.”

She added that some of her still life paintings are more representational.

Another artist whose work relies heavily on the use of oils is Susan Sponenberg. Her work keys on animal life, usually horses and dogs.

She said she started drawing and painting horses when she was young because she always loved horses but couldn’t have one. Animals—horses, dogs and cats are now her inspiration.

Sponenberg said she likes to use oils because of what she can do in that medium.

“I use a method much like the old masters used where you do a whole under drawing in a burnt umber, put a glaze over that and put color into the glazes. So most of my paintings will have between 10 and 20 layers of color that gives a luminosity that you can’t get with other media. … It’s like looking through a candy apple [paint] job on a car because you’re looking trough all these layers of transparency.”

Gallery owner Jackie Winther characterized the show as: “Pretty. It’s a pretty show. It’s diverse. It’s really diverse. We have the wildlife and then the landscapes and some abstract work with Judy Jarvis. It’s a great show, different … [it has] a lot of different things.

Women in Art runs through April 25.