Growing up on Lady’s Island in Beaufort, Jennifer DuRant spent most of her time outdoors. As a young girl, she started taking lessons from a successful local artist. In high school, she started experimenting with oils on her own. The initial oil paintings were inspired by her natural surroundings, such as scenes from the closest dock, or the sun setting behind a few palmetto trees.
Highly detailed styles of painting were never a style of Jennifer's, who migrated toward a simpler, freer approach from the beginning. Organic subjects from the natural world have always been a part of her subject matter, which makes sense in respect to her upbringing by the water.
Lately, abstract beach settings have been a focus. Milton Avery inspired this recent conquest in many ways.