Blue Whole Gallery celebrates two artists with disparate styles united with the theme of “A Walk in the Woods” for its July 2024 gallery exhibit.

Jeannine Chappell paints with acrylic on panel and paper while Jane Smith is a gourd artist and paints repurposed items like tea pots.

Meet the artists during the First Friday Art Walk Sequim event from 5-8 p.m. on July 5 at the gallery, 129 W. Washington St.

Chappell has a lifelong association with the woods. A native of Georgia with its southern pines, she lived many years in the San Francisco Bay Area among the live oaks. Trees have been a source of inspiration for her.

Here on the Olympic Peninsula, Chappell has created her current series of abstract tree paintings. In these works, she pays homage to trees as the source of life and oxygen, and as the provider of shelter and protection.

Photo courtesy of Blue Whole Gallery “Smell The Daisies” by Jane Smith, a featured artist at the Blue Whole Gallery in July.

Through her paintings, gallery members say, “she invites the viewer to take a walk in the woods of her imagination.”

Smith was born in Hawaii among tropical trees but most of her life has been spent in the somewhat treeless desert southwest.

Having lived in Washington state twice before, she said she was happy that retirement brought her back to forests she had longed to be near.

When Smith gets stuck on a project or is lacking inspiration, she said she heads for the woods to clear her head.

She is quickly “unstuck” and back to work on one of her favorite projects, incorporating pine needles in her gourd art.

Both artists are active in the management of Blue Whole Gallery: Chappell serves as the corporate secretary and Smith is the treasurer.

For more about the Blue Whole Gallery, visit bluewholegallery.com.