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C A R O L I N E J A S P E R

THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST Horizon Sunday, April 10, 2005
Fine art, fine food Historic inn features paintings by Bel Air artist By Dickson Mercer. Photography by Doug Koontz Caroline Jasper works on two paintings during a reception held at The Comus Inn in Dickerson, where her paintings are on exhibit.	While her work has a strong agricultural presence, Ms. Jasper is frequently commissioned to paint houses. Rather than paint a house in it's entirety, she typically hones in on a feature, like a door, window or stairway. "I like to have trees involved, particularly the shadows." Ms. Jasper found the stairway in "Railed Ascent" on a side street in Annapolis. Again, it goes back to light. And the attraction to it, she says, "is a natural thing." "It attracts me, the way a place looks with it," she said. "If it's hazy, I'm not interested. I will go somewhere else or try to figure out where the sun will be in the morning. I'll drive somewhere where it's just the sun and no clouds." Ms. Jasper's artwork has been displayed in inter-national and national juried shows, regional venues and solo exhibitions She has a master's degree in fine arts from Baltimore's Maryland Institute College of Art. As a student at Towson University, "I didn't think I liked oil painting," she said. "I didn't like the prescribed formula." But after experimenting in other mediums, like watercolor, which "never looks as good dry as it does wet," she came to favor oil painting, "where what you see, is what you get." • Whether she's painting the wrought iron gates outside a Delaware cottage, seen in "Castings," or Swan Creek in Harford County, "it's always about the light." Formerly the art director at Chesapeake High School, Ms. Jasper teaches painting workshops around the country. "I'm always a teacher. I love the interaction with students." she said. About two years ago, Dr. Goodwin and his wife first saw Ms. Jasper's paintings at a gallery in Rockville. Dr. Goodwin was so taken by Ms. Jasper's work, he bought one on the spot. "My wife is an artist too, so when an artist likes another artist's work and agrees with her husband, that's usually pretty good stuff." he said. The public is invited to see Ms. Jasper's paintings, which will be on display for at least a few more months, Dr. Goodwin said. "We really want anybody to have the opportunity to see her work." Photography by Tom Shapiro is also available for viewing ar The Comus Inn, located at 23900 Old Hundred Road, in Dickerson. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner, Wednesday through Saturday, and musical brunch and family-style supper on Sunday. For more iinformation on The Comus Inn, visit www.thecomusinn.com Trees and shadows are frequent subjects in Caroline Jasper's paintings. The Bel Air Artist's work is on display at The Comus Inn in Dickerson.
Chris Goodwin and his friends had discussed "opening a good place to eat" for 15 years, when in September 2002, they decided to invest in The Comus Inn at Sugarloaf Mountain. "I watched it go downhill," said Dr. Goodwin, who lives nearby. "I thought we could do something special with it." After undergoing two years of rehabilitation, supervised by the Secretary of the Interior to maintain the site's 19th-century roots - The Comus Inn reopened Dec. 17, 2004, with a first-class menu that offers three-, four-, and five-course meals. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But the makeover remained incomplete. The next step involved the walls - more specifically, adorning them with art. "Fine foods, fine arts." Dr. Goodwin explains. On March 24, guests welcomed 28 oil paintings by Bel Air artist Caroline Jasper. Inspired by Impressionism, Ms. Jasper's work seeks to "capture the immediacy of change." Whether she's painting the wrought iron gates outside a Delaware cottage, seen in "Castings" or Swan Creek in Harford County, "it's always about the light." "There's nothing special about it," Ms. jasper said, referring to Swan Creek. "But I go back to it. I like to watch the morning light coming at me from a distance, a tree covering the sun's glare... the glow around it. "The water appeals to me also. I'm always interested in water." While Impressionists typically painted quickly, using unmixed primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light, Ms. Jasper prefers to base her paintings on photography. "The light changes too quickly," she said. The end result, as one viewer noted, has a "sharpness" but remains "oddly surrealistic." Ms. Jasper's paintings start with a cadmium red canvas. In the end, the underlying red, still visible in bits, permeates the subject. "I avoided red at first, thinking it would be too strong," she said. "But it sets up a visual vibe. It's more like the experience of actually seeing it."
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