Jude Martindale
Jude Martindale
Jude grew up in rural Nebraska and currently lives and paints in Lincoln. She studied biology and art for a BS from UNL before studying portraiture at the Art Students League of New York. Jude then earned a Masters in Scientific Illustration at the University of Arizona, illustrating a book on extinct mammals for her thesis. After moving back to Lincoln, she freelanced as a illustrator and developed her skills with watercolor and abstraction. The recent book "Flying Free" (2020) showcases some of her widely acclaimed crane art. Her artistic journey has been reported in Nebraska Life magazine and other media.
Jude is a signature member of the International Society of Experimental Artists. She has won many awards, and her work has been shown nationally and internationally. Her solo show, The Great Migration: A Celebration of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska is at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln from January through June 19, 2021. It includes 36 paintings and collages, including some uniquely colorful and fanciful birds.
While her background includes artistic realism, Jude has been working primarily in abstract expressionism for the last several years.
I am an explorer, often looking for new ways to combine color, line, and composition to express experiences and emotions that engage the viewer. I often push for somewhere I've never gone before. Sometimes I sketch out rough ideas before starting. But when I become entranced in the moment, my paintings sometimes take on a life of their own as they evolve toward my goal. Not all experiments work, of course, in art as in science. Those I learn from and gesso over.
In some of my paintings I design with blocks of color and continue to add layers of transparent paint, allowing the under layers to shine through. The tools I use depend on the design, ranging from a wide variety of brush sizes to straight edges, sponges, or simply pouring paint in puddles to dry.
My goal throughout is to convey a sense of emotional energy, whether it be peaceful and calm or dynamic and joyous.
