Penny Billings


About the Artist

Fall Sentinels Oil
Image Size 10 x 20 Framed 16 x 26 $3,100

Reflection Oil
Image Size 10 x 20 Framed 12 x 22 $2,900

Path to the Sea Oil
Image Size 6 x 8 Framed 12 x 14 $850

“A secret path leads the way to an inlet and, around the bend, to the vast ocean beyond.”

Cranberry Bog Oil
Image Size 6 x 12 Framed 12 x 18 $1,350

“Scattered throughout the Cape are the many cranberry bogs which yield a rich harvest as the summer season grows late.”

Sundown Oil
Image Size 12 x 24 Framed 14 x 26 $3,500

“The colors and beauty of the setting sun are reflected each evening in the waters below.”

Purple Loosestrife Field Oil
Image Size 20 x 24 Framed 22 x 26 $3,800

“Along riverbanks and in wetlands throughout the Cape and all of New England, these invasive yet beautiful plants come into full bloom in August, setting the adjoining fields ablaze with their purple majesty.”

Summer's Solitude Oil
Image Size 10 x 20 Framed 16 x 26 $2,900

“Everyone knows a private place which refreshes their soul. Here, the cool and restful colors of mid-summer hearken back to that place which we can call our own.”


A native Bostonian, Penny Billings has painted for more than twenty years. She has been elected to artist membership in The Copley Society of Art in Boston and Oil Painters of America, and is also a member of the Concord Art Association. Before returning to her passion as a full-time artist, Penny enjoyed a successful career as a trial lawyer. As a student of the works and techniques of master painters, Penny has read art history extensively, toured museums and galleries throughout Europe, the British Isles and North America, and studied with artists Dennis Sheehan and Robert Douglas Hunter. She paints in her Lincoln, Massachusetts studio. Penny’s own richly conceived landscapes are inspired by the 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 Corot and Daubigny, 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 Penny’s use of the highest quality oil paints and archival linen canvases. Her paintings are framed in 19th century impressionist-style gold leaf frames. Penny’s paintings have exhibited in many juried art shows, including one-artist shows. They appear in private collections across the United States.
Artist’s Statement: Approaching painting from the standpoint of contemporary realism, I am inspired by the American Tonalist painters of the 19th century, seeking to capture on canvas the emotion within a landscape rather than to depict a scene with precise accuracy.
Gallery/Juried Exhibitions 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, MA (April 25–May 8, 2010) Members Juried I Competition Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (January-February 2010) 10th Annual Frances N. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (November 3-30, 2009) New England Representational Painting Competition, The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA (August 6-30, 2009) “Banks of the Hudson” National Juried Exhibition, Woodstock School of Art & Ulster County Hudson River 400, Woodstock, NY (Aug.-Sept. 2009) 2009 National Exhibition Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA (June-July 2009) Summer Members’ Show: “Shimmer” The Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA (June-August 2009) The 12th Annual Regional Juried Show, 2009, Newburyport Art Association, Newburyport, MA (May-June 2009) Winter Members’ Show: “Passages” The Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA (February 6-28, 2009) “Think Local, See Local” and “The Concept of Home” Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, MA (February-March 2009) Members Juried I Competition Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (January-February 2009) “Almost Miniatures”, Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, MA (November 2008-January 2009) 9th Annual Frances N. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, (Sept.-Oct. 2008) “Looking In/Looking Out” Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH (Sept.-Nov. 2008) “Landscapes and Portraits” Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, MA (June-July 2008) Members Juried I Competition Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (Jan.-Feb. 2008) “Almost Miniatures” Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, MA (Nov. 2007-Jan. 2008) “Landscapes” (One-Artist Juried Show), Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (Sept. 5-30, 2007) “Summer Light”, Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH (June-July 2007) “The New England Landscape” (One-Artist Juried Show), Concord Free Public Library, Concord, MA (April 1-29, 2007) Members Juried I Competition Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (Jan.-Feb. 2007) Lincoln Cultural Council Juried Exhibition, Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, MA (Oct. 2006) Art in the Barn Juried Show Essex Greenbelt Association, Essex, MA (June 2006) New England Artists Open Competition Marblehead Art Association, Marblehead, MA (May 2006) Members Juried I Competition Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (Jan.-Feb. 2006)		Other Exhibitions “Paint the Town” Preview Show and Live Auction (by invitation), Concord Art Association, Concord, MA (May 2009, 2008 & 2007) Sudanese Education Fund Fundraiser & Live Auction (by invitation) (May 2009) “New Members Show” The Copley Society of Art Boston, MA (Jan. 2009) “Holiday Small Works” The Copley Society of Art Boston, MA(Nov.-Dec. 2008) “Art of the Landscape” (One-Artist Exhibition)Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, MA(Nov. 2-30, 2008) John Adams Courthouse Boston, MA(June 2007) “Holiday Originals” Concord Art Association, Concord MA (Decembers 2005-2008) Professional Artist Memberships The Copley Society of Art Boston, MA Oil Painters of America Crystal Lake, Illinois Concord Art Association, Concord, MA Education Mount Holyoke College, A.B., 1977 Boston University School of Law, J.D., 1980 Have studied privately and/or in workshops with Robert Douglas Hunter, Dennis Sheehan & Casey Baugh, and studied studio drawing and painting in courses at the DeCordova Museum School with Ma Qingxiong, Kat O’Connor and Alexander Farquharson.