Celebrated painter Merryl Jaye’s style is not only visionary, it is unmistakably recognizable and irrevocably her own. Her beautiful scenic vistas evoke the intrinsic majesty and romance of nature, as seen through the eye of a free-spirited contemporary impressionist. Her artistic sensibility is defined by her innate understanding of light and her love for brilliant color; her unedited, painterly brushstrokes seem as though they might have been daubed onto her canvas while overlooking the left banks of the Seine.

Raised in Southern California, Merryl began painting at age twelve. Fascinated by the performing arts, she also studied music, winning multiple scholarships as a singer of light opera. In her late teens, Merryl served her country by traveling to Vietnam with the USO to entertain the troops through song. After concluding a successful career as a songwriter, recording artist, and stage performer, she chose to follow her true passion: painting.

Like her gift of music, the composition of Merryl’s artworks achieve a sonorous and well-balanced harmony. Her subject matter consists of people or places you feel as though you’ve known before. Her enchanting cottages, her ethereal landscapes and her heartfelt images of children are timeless and precious. Her provocative depictions of powerful women of diverse ethnicities effortlessly combine sensuality and dignity.

Starting as a classical artist, Merryl’s technique instinctively transitioned into a more freely styled, interpretive approach as her passion for the natural elements grew. It is as though nature dictates her brushstrokes, which create the effect of constant movement.

Merryl’s deep background in music is a major influence in her artwork; it affords her the sensitivity and understanding to capture the emotion and spontaneity of live jazz on her canvases. Merryl began painting portraits of the jazz greats in 2005, painstakingly selecting her subjects for their preeminence in the field. Her jazz portraits are vividly rendered in a freshly modern expressionistic style. This successfully brings the twin mediums of art and music into a synergistic harmony. For each of her jazz subjects, she creates an uncanny likeness, capturing the depth and breadth of their true musical essence.

Merryl Jaye’s original paintings and hand-embellished giclée canvases are sought after and owned by an ever-widening list of prestigious collectors, including many notable individuals in politics, business and entertainment.