Local artist Beth DeJesus was at the Montgomery Area Historical Society on Saturday, May 7 where she displayed her paintings and gave a talk.

As a fine artist and plein air artist, she has been interested in painting since the age of three or four, and she eventually attended the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Her paintings of homes, churches, and historic buildings in Montgomery, Muncy, and Williamsport have received lots of attention. She has also done paintings of Knoebels Amusement Resort as well as areas of Lewisburg. Some of her paintings of local scenes are ones that she spotted and wanted to paint, and others are commissions of private homes. One of the paintings she did of Mowrey’s Yellow Barn in Montgomery attracted a lot of interest from local residents. She described the barn on route 54 as “iconic,” and it’s certainly one of the town’s better-known landmarks.

DeJesus is a native of Bel Air, Maryland and has been in the area for about fourteen years. She moved to Montgomery two years ago. She said, “I think that Montgomery is a very special place. It’s probably my favorite place I’ve lived since moving. I just think the town is special and there’s so much history, and the people that are in the town always have a story and some sort of history lesson to teach me so it’s a great place.”

Her favorite painting style is plein air, which she has come to be known for locally. She said it’s French for “open air painting.” She explained it was an artform that developed in the 1800s after paint was available to buy in tubes and artists were free to paint outdoors. Prior to that, artists had to make and mix their own paints from pigments so they typically went on location and did some quick pencil sketches and then spent extended periods of time painting in studios from memory and sketches.

DeJesus commented, “My heart, my love, is plein art painting, which is on location. I like the challenge of working right on location and the landscape. Anytime I can go out and the weather cooperates that’s my favorite thing to do.” Her paintings are done in either water color or oil paints, but she prefers oil paints.

She did a plein air painting of the Genetti Hotel in Williamsport, and it will be featured in a 100th anniversary commemorative booklet later this summer.

Lycoming Arts will feature her work in their window on Williamsport’s First Friday on June 3rd.

Three of her paintings will be on display at the Station Gallery in Jersey Shore in the latter part of May and early June for the Clinton Arts Council. All three are in the plein air style, one is the Genetti Hotel painting, another is Mowrey’s Yellow Barn in Montgomery, and the CCR Garage on Broad Street, Montgomery.

She has also had her work on display previously at the Thomas Taber Museum in Williamsport and the Basil Wood Fired Kitchen and Lounge in Muncy.