Award-winning artist Penny Billings paints in a style of contemporary realism, influenced by the 19th century Tonalist movement. A native Bostonian, Billings earned her bachelor of arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and has been elected to juried artist membership in The Copley Society of Art in Boston and in Oil Painters of America. She is also an artist member of the American Impressionist Society, the Concord (Massachusetts) Art Association, and an Associate Member of the Guild of Boston Artists. As a passionate student of the works and techniques of the master artists, Billings has read art history extensively, toured museums and galleries throughout Europe, the British Isles and North America, and studied with Boston School master painters Dennis Sheehan and Robert Douglas Hunter.

Billings's richly conceived landscapes are inspired by the late 19th century American Tonalist painters, notably George Inness, Alexander Wyant and John Francis Murphy, who idealized "the civilized landscape," and those of the earlier French Barbizon school such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, who immortalized the beauty of the pastoral. Her atmospheric oil paintings capture the grace, serenity and constantly changing moods of the New England countryside and beyond, and the important intersection between light and shadow.

A glazing technique of applying several thin layers of oil paint helps to create an almost translucent effect on the canvas, which is further ensured by Billings's use of the highest quality oil paints and archival linen canvases. Her works are framed in gold leaf 19th century impressionist-style frames.

Billings's luminous oil paintings have hung in the Massachusetts State House in Boston. They have been recognized both nationally and locally in juried art competitions, where they have been exhibited in one-artist and group shows, including the online International 2010-2011 Art Renewal Center Salon, and were included in a 2009 article on landscape painting today in American Art Collector magazine. Shown in commercial art galleries, including exhibition at the Boston International Fine Art Show, her paintings appear in private collections across the United States.

98th Annual Exhibition
Allied Artists of America
National Arts Club, New York, NY (November 2011)

83rd Grand National Exhibition
The American Artists Professional League
Salmagundi Club, New York, NY (November 2011)

International 2010-2011 ARC Salon
Art Renewal Center
Finalist in Landscape Category (two paintings)

12th Annual National Juried Exhibition
American Impressionist Society, Mountainsong Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
(October 15 - November 15, 2011)

34th Annual Juried Painting & Sculpture Exhibition for Non-Members
Salmagundi Club, New York, NY (August 2011)

The Artist's Magazine 27th Annual Art Competition
Finalist (two paintings), Landscape/Interior Category (December 2010 issue)

114th Annual Open Exhibition
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Inc.
National Arts Club, New York, NY (October 2010)

33rd Annual Juried Painting & Sculpture Exhibition for Non-Members
Salmagundi Club, New York, NY (July 2010)

60th Annual National Exhibition of Contemporary Realism in Art
(Winner of the Bernard Corey Memorial Award for Oil Landscape)
Academic Artists Association, Springfield, MA (April - May 2010)

"Banks of the Hudson" National Juried Exhibition 2009
Woodstock School of Art & Ulster County Hudson River 400, Woodstock, NY

2009 National Exhibition, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA

Commercial Art Gallery Exhibitions

"Award-Winning Artists, Three Distinct Views:
Penny Billings, James Coe & Peter Kalill"
Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA (August 2011)

“Small Works, Big Hearts” (Three- Artist Show) - Galerie d’Orsay, Boston, MA
(February-March 2011)

"Copley Artists at Addison" - Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA
(August 2009 & 2010)

"Almost Miniatures" - Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, MA
(November -January 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, & 2010-2011)

"Interpreting the New England Landscape" - Addison Art Gallery (July 2010)

Boston International Fine Art Show
Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA (November 2009)

"Think Local, See Local" - Francesca Anderson Fine Art (February-March 2009)

"Looking In/Looking Out" - Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH (Sept-November 2008)

"Landscapes and Portraits" - Francesca Anderson Fine Art (June-July 2008)

"Summer Light" - Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH (June-July 2007)

Select Regional Juried Exhibitions

Walden Artists: "Picnic by the River"
Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (October 2010)

Zullo Gallery's 15th Annual Juried Exhibition
Zullo Gallery Center for the Arts, Medfield, MA (Nov 2009 - January 2010)

Summer Members' Show: "Shimmer"
The Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA (June-August 2009)

New England Representational Painting Competition
The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA (August 2009 & October 2011)

10th Annual Frances N. Roddy Open Competition
Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (November 2009)

Winter Members' Show: "Passages"
The Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA (February 2009)

Members Juried I Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
(January-February 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)

9th Annual Frances N. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (September-October 2008)

"Landscapes" (One-Artist Juried Show), Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
(September 2007)

"The New England Landscape" (One-Artist Juried Show)
Concord Free Public Library, Concord, MA (April 1-29, 2007)

Lincoln Cultural Council Juried Exhibition
Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, MA (October 2006)

New England Artists Open Competition
Marblehead Art Association, Marblehead, MA (May 2006)

Members Juried I Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (2006)

Other Select Exhibitions

"Walden Artists at the State House" (Four-Artist Exhibition)
Massachusetts State House - Boston, MA (April 2011)

"Nocturne" - The Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA (January- April 2010)

"Paint the Town" - Preview Show and Live Auction (by invitation)
Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (May 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011)

"New Members Show" - The Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA (January 2009)

"Art of the Landscape" (One-Artist Exhibition) Lincoln MA Public Library (2008)

Art Exhibition, John Adams Courthouse, Boston, MA (June 2007)