Welcome to my Gallery website.

I hope you enjoy viewing images of my paintings, learning about Limited Edition Giclee prints of these paintings and reading about Events and Exhibitions.

New Additions

Great news for my collectors! Black Gold¨, a coffee table book containing reproductions of 42 of my paintings is now available for purchase by the public.

Black Gold¨ was rushed to print late last year to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the oil industry. My early paintings of the Venice, California oil fields in the 1960s and the north Orange County fields beginning in 1995, as well as selections of Landscapes and Still Life are well documented.

The story relives my days in the oilfields. I researched through old diaries, paintings and sketches while writing. Memories of events, people met and stories heard are recanted along with the paintings.

I am grateful to award winning publisher, Tom Underhill, for inviting me on this journey. His company, Creative Continuum, Inc. was opening an Art Division. My paintings were chosen for publication to showcase his abilities. The final product is a book youÕll want to own or purchase as a gift for someone special.

For more information about Black Gold¨, visit the Black Gold¨ order page.

A new Business site has been added for your convenience in ordering. www.blackgoldprintsordernow.com You can now order on this site with Visa, MasterCard and Pay Pal.

Black Gold Prints Order Now has all the information on Prices, Shipping .and Additional Items available: Awards, postcards and, coming soon, framed prints.

Donkey in a Kansas Field (Right) was painted for the International Oil History Symposium held in Wichita, Kansas in April 2006. The print edition was released at the symposium. A Giclée print of Donkey in a Kansas Field was incorporated into the "Oil History Journalism Award". It was presented at the symposium banquet April 21, 2006, by the American Oil & Gas Historical Society, Washington DC and the Petroleum History Institute, Oil City, PA, to Cookie Cookson, Publisher Emeritus, The American Oil & Gas Reporter.

Black Gold Awards similar to this can be ordered with your choice of print and with your award information custom engraved on a brass plaque.

New Editions
A new addition to the Landscape and Still Life page is A Quiet Place. This is a scene painted at Fullerton Arboretum.

Announcement
JoAnn was invited by the Texas Alliance if Energy Producers to have her work highlighted at their 2008 Alliance Expo and Annual Meeting in Wichita Falls, Texas, April 15 & 16. Photos of her paintings are featured on the covers of Texas Alliance newsletters and in the exhibition program. Her Giclees are on display in a booth at expo.

The Brea Olinda Oil Museum is using the image of "Derricks After The Rain" for the Olinda Historic Museum and Park trail signs. "We believe this image perfectly conveys the unique beauty of the oil derricks and our region….It will be a wonderful addition to our upcoming project." Kathie DeRobbio, Director.

From the Artist
"Though many see the oil derricks and pumps as eyesores, Ms. Cowans insists they are beautiful. 'In Brea some of the pumps are painted bright blues with bright rust colors on them and the head of the pump looks like the head of a grasshopper.' she said. 'They're just terrific. Against the sky they make a beautiful compositional study.'"
The Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2004


Brea Canyon, CA 2005
A collector said to me "I don't want a photograph of an oilfield. I want a painting of how the artist feels about the oilfield. It lifts the spirit."

I hope you experience the same joy in viewing these paintings that I have found in painting them: in walking through the oil fields, absorbing the colors and textures, listening to the squeaky pumps, smelling the oil and talking with the people who work in the oil patch.

May these images create an environment that ties viewers to oil and oil history, and holds on to something that is rapidly disappearing.
May they lift your spirit.

JoAnn Cowans

 

City of Night, 1962, 40"x70"

The above painting, "City of Night", is available in Limited Edition Giclée prints on canvas. The edition has two sizes: 40" x 70" (size of original oil painting) and 24"x 42". Custom sizes are available. "City of Night" is a view of Los Angeles seen from the Venice Oil Fields in 1962.

Selected Press

Selected Collections

Selected Exhibitions

For information on original paintings or purchasing prints,
please contact JoAnn Cowans via email or by phone.

joann@jacart.net
714-990-9122

© 2008 JoAnn Cowans.