“Summer Afternoon Bliss,” an oil painting by Marie-Christine
Briot-Connolly, was the winner of the Centennial Morgan Hill Fine
Art Poster Contest, the Centennial Morgan Hill Committee announced
last Saturday evening at Gallery Morgan Hill.
“Summer Afternoon Bliss,” an oil painting by Marie-Christine Briot-Connolly, was the winner of the Centennial Morgan Hill Fine Art Poster Contest, the Centennial Morgan Hill Committee announced last Saturday evening at Gallery Morgan Hill.
Five entries selected by a “people’s choice” balloting process were, coincidentally, the same artwork in the same order selected by the centennial committee, according to Yarka Kennett, who is in charge of the art poster competition.
“We’re proud of the public’s choice,” said Kennett.
Briot-Connolly painted a scene at the intersection of Monterey Road and First Street, with El Toro in the background, which Kennett said, is “what was the most representative of Morgan Hill.”
Briot-Connolly, a French resident who has lived in Morgan Hill the past three years with her husband Peter Connolly, loves California.
“I enjoy capturing on canvas the soul and beauty of California scenes. Maybe it’s because I’m a foreigner and this is all new to me – the landscapes, the colors – that I am very alert in capturing the nature of their beauty. I could be driving on Highway 1 and I just want to paint the scene in oil.”
She is especially enthralled by Morgan Hill’s beauty.
“The valley is very scenic,” said Briot-Connolly. “It’s the first time I’ve lived in a valley with such versatile hills and colors that change with the seasons, the time of day, the mist comes and goes, the sunsets are extraordinary, always changing, always giving you new aesthetic emotions.”
It is these emotions Briot-Connolly wanted to capture when she painted “Summer Afternoon Bliss.”
“It was a beautiful moment I captured. I was walking downtown, looking for the perfect moment late in the afternoon and I found it,” she said. “The light was very bright and warm, the sky was blue, the shadows were very long.”
She added, “I wanted to do technically right rendering of the architecture work on the right perspective and the wind, the shadows, the shimmering leaves, the shadows of the light is slightly tinted on the leaves… It was a sentimental moment.”
She sketched the scene, chose her colors and then took a series of photographs so she could work on the details at home.
“I needed to sit there and let it sink in, take notes and then I came back to make sure the feelings I experienced were really what I expressed in the canvass,” Briot-Connolly explained her work. “It has to be true so when people look at the canvass, they can feel the same feelings. I experience some happiness being in Morgan Hill and painted with that purpose (the poster contest) in mind … with space for lettering in the foliage above and in the shadows below.”
Briot-Connolly grew up in Paris, at Cote d’Azur in the south of France. She has a degree in art and a Master of Arts in American Literature. She lived five years in Ireland, where she met her husband, Peter Connolly, and where she sailed competitively and was an interior designer at the Dublin Institute of Design.
She describes herself as a landscape and seascape artist. She joined the Gallery Morgan Hill last month and is a member of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Education Council. She is also exhibition chair for the Valley Del Sur Morgan Hill Art Guild. She has painted many street scenes and a series of Morgan Hill views, which proved very popular during the open studio held at the gallery in May.
Briot-Connolly said she can get emotional about her work because she is continually amazed at the beauty of the area.
“The softly rounded golden hills, they open the large windows of happiness in my heart and I need to capture that experience on canvass,” she said.
Briot-Connolly received a cash prize of $200. In addition, her work will be featured as the Morgan Hill Centennial Poster and displayed within the city throughout next year. An option will also be provided by the city to purchase the artwork for public auction. Proceeds of the auction will be used to benefit the community.
