About
Sea Change
It's beautiful out there.
“No foolproof recipe exists for making a successful painting. But the slight adjustments a master painter makes mean the difference between good and wonderful. Listening to Massachusetts pastelist Jeanne Rosier Smith describe her process, and examining her work is reminiscent of learning from a master chef. Basic rules are being followed, but crucial adjustments push the project into the sublime.”
—Bob Bahr, PLEIN AIR MAGAZINE, JULY 2022.
My paintings are a visceral response to the world. A flip in the stomach, an intake of breath sparks the work. My process relies on instinct. Dissolving and blending colors, creating vibrations with layered pigments reflects a balance of heart and mind working toward a moment of joy.
Painting in pastel is a sensory experience. Hundreds of colored sticks spread before me, each with its own texture, weight and feel. My arm becomes my brush, and I paint with direct touch, creating soft glazes or juicy impasto strokes with pressure shifts or the touch of a fingertip. I paint to awaken the senses, hear the ocean’s roar, feel the wind, taste the salt air, smell the scent of the sun on blossoms. It’s beautiful out there, and we are alive.
Jeanne Rosier Smith, b. 1966, grew up painting and after earning a PhD in English, switched gears and began her full-time art career at age 35 when she began painting in pastel and fell in love with the medium.
Jeanne now spends most of her time painting in and around the beautiful New England area where she lives, and along the coastal areas that inspire her work. An avid swimmer with lots of beach vacation memories, Jeanne feels a deep affinity for the ocean. These two factors combined make seascapes a recurring theme and continuing source of inspiration. Hours spent riding ocean waves give her familiarity and comfort with the movement of ocean water and an enduring fascination with it. Her recent large-scale ocean series brings the raw power and beauty of crashing waves into life-size scale, engulfing the viewer with thundering
Jeanne credits most of her art training to the workshops and classes she taught for twenty years, in her home studio, nationwide and internationally until 2019. She now offers a full ongoing online video instruction program through EpiphanyFineArt.com.
Smith is a Master Artist with the Pastel Society of America, a fellow at the St Botolph Club of Boston, a Copley Society Master Artist, and an IAPS Eminent pastelist. She is a signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists and the American Impressionist Society. She has served as an educational consultant to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and has also given pastel demonstrations and gallery talks at the Museum. She has exhibited at the Massachusetts State House, the Guild of Boston Artists, the Salmagundi Club, the St Botolph Club, the National Arts Club and museums around the country. Her work has garnered top awards including the Prix de Pastel (Best in Show) from IAPS, The International Association of Pastel Societies, a Grand Prize in International Artist Magazine Seascape Competition, and two Art Spirit Foundation Gold Medals for Excellence in Pastel. She has placed in the Pastel Journal’s Pastel 100 for seven years, winning two first places before serving as national landscape judge for the competition in 2023. Her work has been featured in Plein Air magazine, International Artist Magazine, American Art Collector, and The Pastel Journal, and she is a regular contributor to the Pastel Journal and the Artist's Magazine. Her paintings are in collections worldwide. She is represented by Anderson Fine Art of St Simons Island, Georgia, Art on Union of Traverse City, MI, Black River Gallery of Boothbay Harbor, ME, the Copley Society in Boston, MA, Dare Gallery of Charleston SC, Lily Pad Gallery of Westerly, RI, Susan Powell of Madison CT, Powers Gallery of Acton MA, and Sandpiper Gallery of Sullivan's Island, SC.
She now offers subscription video lessons, through Epiphany Fine Art. Find out more through this link, or through the Instruction page on this website, with over 120 hours of videos for beginners to advanced pastelists, with full workshops and specific targeted subject lessons, as well as live online events. She has chosen two signature sets of pastels, a set of 30 Terry Ludwig Seascape pastels, available on this website, and a set of 80 Richeson Land & Sea pastels, available on Amazon and Judsons Art Outfitters
Recent juried and invitational exhibitions & awards:
Bold Brush Award, August 2025
Best in Show, Central Mass Pastel Society National Show, 2024
Pastel Society of America “Enduring Brilliance” National Show, 2005, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023
Bold Brush Outstanding Pastel January 2024, March 2022, February 2020; Finalist July 2023, May 2021, April 2020
Solo Show St Botolph club March 2022
Solo Show Dare Gallery Charleston April 2022, May 2023, May 2024, May 2025
Gold Medal, IAPS Exhibition, 2021
Gold Medal, Art Spirit Foundation, Salmagundi Members Show 2021
Third Place, Pastel Journal Top 100 Landscape 2021
Copley Masters Exhibition 2019
Salmagundi Club Pastel Open Exhibition 2019
Pastel Journal Top 100 First Place, Landscape 2017 and 2019
IAPS Masters Circle Exhibition 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
Copley Society Winter Show, "Renewal" 2019
40th Anniversary American Society of Marine Artists Exhibition, Principle Gallery Charleston 2018
July 2018 Bold Brush painting Competition (Finalist)
For Pastels Only on Cape Cod, 2017, 2018 (Award of Excellence 2011,Connecticut Pastel Society Award 2016, AirFloat Award 2018)
American Society of Marine Artists Museum Exhibition Tour 2016-2018
Salmagundi Club Thumbox Exhibition 2017, (Purchase Prize)
IAPS Masters Circle Exhibition, 2017
Connecticut Pastel Society Purely Pastel, 2017 (Membership Award)
Copley Society Summer Show 2017, 2018
Copley Society National Exhibition, At Sea 2017
Cahoon Museum of American Art Contemporary Pastels Invitational, 2016
Copley Society at the Cape, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 2016
Solo Show, Summer into Fall at the Bank, Prudential Center, Copley Society, 2016
IAPS 28th Exhibition America’s Parks Museum Exhibition Tour, 2013 & 2016
Pastel Journal Pastel Competition, (Top 100) 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
Copley Society Winter Juried Show, 2016 (First Place)
Connecticut Pastel Society Renaissance in Pastel National Show 2015 (Wholesale Frame Award)
Artists’ Magazine Competition (Finalist), 2014, 2015
Art Renewal Center Competition (Finalist, Landscape), 2014, 2015
Pastel Society of Cape Cod, Signature Show, Cape Cod Museum of Art (Curator’s Award)
Painting New England in Pastel, 2013 (New Hampshire Pastel Society Award)
Salmagundi Club (Award of Merit) 2013, 2016
IAPS 24th Exhibition (Prix de Pastel: Best in Show) 2012
Powers Gallery Two-Person Show March 2014
International Artist Magazine, (Grand Prize 2012, Finalist 2015)
American Artists Professional League, (Art Spirit Foundation Gold Medal, 2012)
Guild of Boston Artists Regional Show, 2011, 2012, 2015
For Pastels Only Cape Cod Nat'l Show, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
International Assoc. of Pastel Societies Web Show, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
Renaissance in Pastel, CPS, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
Boston Symphony Hall, with Copley Society “Pictures at an Exhibition,” 2013
Laumeister Competition, Bennington Museum, Bennington VT, 2012, 2013
Classes with Jeanne -- What people are saying:
"I have looked at/paid for/practiced for over two years and never really "got" how to work with value, intensity, neutrals, temperature. Your exercises with the strips, boxes, etc. have been lightbulb moments. I don't think I will ever paint again without a page of value strips next to me so I can tell what value my color really is. I am excited to keep on going."
—T.M., Austin, Texas
"Just want to say again how much I enjoyed the workshop and feel that I learned so much! You are a wonderful teacher. You present information in a clear, organized way and are very attentive and giving to each participant. My personal results proved your point that you don't have to end up with a masterpiece to make it a good painting day! This might be the breakthrough I've been working towards in loosening up. You got me past my 'fear of plein air' by expressing the apprehensions you had experienced yourself and demonstrating how to go about composing without the use of a camera, which I have always depended on."
- Shary Skoloff, New Jersey
I wanted to thank you again for a wonderful three days at the workshop. Your demonstrations and one-on-one help gave me new insights and skills that have helped me see things more clearly and become more centered in my painting. You were supportive and encouraging. I feel more productive and confident in my approach to viewing the world and making it come alive through narrowing the focus and experimenting with color.
–James Varnum, Natick MA
Jeanne's technique for loosening up hit home with me. It makes so much sense and it works. What's so exciting is the painting I am doing now! Things are fresh and exciting. Jeanne is an excellent teacher: She explains things very clearly, she provides us with a wealth of information, she finds "goodness" in everyone's paintings. She is the best workshop instructor I have ever had. Thank you so much."
--Helen Becker, Moab, UT
"I learned so much practical information that I will definitely use in the future. 'New' and very helpful ways of looking at painting for me. Jeanne is a great teacher." --Neal Goolsby, Littleton, CO
