Editor’s Note: At the request of the City of Bethlehem administration because of the Coronavirus, “Quiet Reflections” and the next Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission Rotunda Gallery exhibition by Lehigh Valley Charter Arts students have been canceled.

“Quiet Reflections,” Jeffrey M. Green’s solo exhibition of his colored pencil works provides a temporary respite from today’s turbulent world through March 30, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, 10 E. Church St., Bethlehem.

Most of the serene artwork, whether landscapes, seascapes, portraits, or classic still-lifes with flowers and fruit, is rendered in burnished colored pencil on art board.

“Succulence in Sunshine” (2015, colored pencil on art board, 16 in. x 20 in.), with juicy-looking ripe fruit atop a well-worn and scratched wooden cutting board, is a prime example of Green’s intricate still life work.

“Great Horned” (2017, colored pencil on canvas board, 11 in. x 14 in.), is a piece where the New Jersey-born artist successfully experimented with layers of colored pencils over canvas.

“To do something that looks classically like a painting with just a little pencil, to me, is such a wonderful surprise,” says Green, who works out of his home studio in Bangor, Northampton County. He teaches colored pencil workshops at nearby Bloom Creative Studio, a community-based nonprofit in the Slate Belt.

Green methodically captures every minute detail in these realistic drawings. His pencil work takes countless hours to create as he carefully builds and blends translucent layers of colored pencil to control light, shadow and the nuanced texture of his subjects.

There are a few oils in the exhibit, including “Connection” (2020, oil on canvas, 16 in. x 20 in.) with a pair of red roses laying across a wrinkled white sheet.

“I started oils in 2017,” said Green. “It takes a lot less time,” explained the artist about the difference in mediums. “I like having something else to do that just frees me up to be more creative and loosens me up.”

The self-taught, 55-year-old Green said, “I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid, I just never stopped.”