Joy Appenzeller Bauer graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 where she refined traditional French impressionism and urban realism oil painting techniques. After art school, she focused on commissioned portraits for 15+ years while working in advertising/corporate communications and earning an MBA. As a senior manager, she travelled around the world and built up a repertoire of reference photography. She created a large portfolio of landscapse and cityscape oil paintings between 2008-2010 and returned to corporate healthcare in early 2011.

Although equally comfortable with figures, she now concentrates mostly on landscapes and cityscapes, capturing the character and atmosphere of each traveled location (click here for artist statement). On account of multiple marriages, Joy’s art post 2003 is signed without a last name – simply “Joie” (Joy in French). Her work is on display at several galleries and juried art shows/fairs and she is a board member of the Skokie Art Guild. Joy is also a member of the Chicago Artist Coalition and Oil Painters of America.

While the smaller impressionist landscapes are often painted plein air in a single day outside/looking out a window, Joy’s realism paintings take 2-4 weeks to complete. Starting from a few of her reference photos, she hand-draws the entire composition to scale using drafting tools as necessary. Most paintings start out as drawings, progress to color-blocked designs, and then become painstakingly detailed from upper-left to bottom right. Visit the Art de Joie process page for a step-by-step explanation.

*This Fall look for Art de Joie cityscapes on two primetime TV shows: The Good Wife (CBS) and Georgetown (ABC).