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 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 been recognized both nationally and locally in juried art competitions, where they have been exhibited in one-artist and group shows, 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.

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 5-29, 2010)

33rd Annual Juried Painting & Sculpture Exhibition for Non-Members
Salmagundi Club, New York
(July 12-23, 2010)

60th Annual National Exhibition of Contemporary Realism in Art
(Winner of the Bernard Corey Memorial Award for Oil Landscape)
Academic Artists Association, Springfield, Massachusetts
(April 25–May 8, 2010)

Members Juried I Competition
Concord Art Association, Concord, Massachusetts
(January-February 2010)

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

Zullo Gallery’s 15th Annual Juried Exhibition
Zullo Gallery Center for the Arts, Medfield, Massachusetts
(November 2009-January 2010)

New England Representational Painting Competition
The Guild of Boston Artists
Boston, Massachusetts
(August 6-30, 2009)

"Banks of the Hudson" National Juried Exhibition
Woodstock School of Art & Ulster County Hudson River 400,
celebrating New York's Hudson Quadricentennial
Woodstock, New York
(August-September 2009)

2009 National Exhibition
Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, Massachusetts
(June-July 2009)

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

The 12th Annual Regional Juried Show, 2009
Newburyport Art Association, Newburyport, Massachusetts
(May-June 2009)

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

Members Juried I Competition
Concord Art Association, Concord, Massachusetts
(January-February 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

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

Landscapes
(One-Artist Juried Show)
Concord Art Association, Concord, Massachusetts
(September 5-30 2007)

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

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

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

Commercial Art Gallery Exhibitions

Interpreting the New England Landscape
Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, Massachusetts
(July 2010)

Copley Artists at Addison
Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, Massachusetts
(August 2010)

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

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

Annual Collectors’ Party
Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, Massachusetts
(December 2009

Copley Artists at Addison
Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, Massachusetts
(August 2009)

Think Local, See Local & The Concept of Home
Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, Massachusetts
(February-March 2009)

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

Landscapes and Portraits
Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, Massachusetts
(June-July 2008)

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


Other Exhibitions

Addison Art at Highfield Hall
Highfield Hall
Falmouth, Massachusetts
(April 28 -June 9, 2010)

Nocturne
The Copley Society of Art
Boston, Massachusetts
(January-March 2010

Paint the Town
Preview Show and Live Auction (by invitation)
Concord Art Association, Concord, Massachusetts
(May 2009, 2008 & 2007)

New Members Show
The Copley Society of Art
Boston, Massachusetts
(January 2009)

Holiday Small Works
The Copley Society of Art
Boston, Massachusetts
(November-December 2008)

Art of the Landscape
(One-Artist Exhibition)
Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, Massachusetts
(November 2-30, 2008)

"Holiday Originals"
Concord Art Association, Concord, Massachusetts
(December 2006-2010)

John Adams Courthouse
Boston, Massachusetts
(June 2007)