“Time Out - Scenes from Kempton,” through Sept. 26, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, Bethlehem, features paintings and drawings of rural landscapes by Jonathan Bond.

Brush and ink sketches from plein air sessions are brought back to Bond’s tobacco barn studio in Albany Township, Berks County, to provide him with the inspiration and framework for his larger, highly-detailed egg tempera paintings. The works reflect the rustic beauty of the Pennsylvania-Dutch country where Bond lives and works.

“Skinned Shins” (2023; egg tempera on wood panel, 18 in. x 24 in.) depicts a youth jumping over a jumble of fieldstones. “It shows a real place in northern Berks County where my family lived for generations,” Bond says.

Although the rocks depicted are real, the child in the painting is from the artist’s imagination. “The boy kind of symbolizes my childhood in many respects,” says Bond.

“I had a carefree childhood,” Bond says of his time playing in the fields and woods of his family’s homestead near Kempton.

“My wife came into the studio and remarked, ‘That little boy is going to hurt his knees or skin his shins,’” Bond says, crediting his wife Kelly for the painting’s title.

The Pinnacle, a popular hiking destination, 1700 Hawk Mountain Road, Kempton, and the highest elevation at 1,634 feet in Berks County on the Blue Mountain ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, is visible on the horizon behind the leaping lad.

“I’m known as a Pinnacle painter. It’s synonymous with my artwork,” says Bond of the Berks County topographical landmark that often appears in his artwork. “It’s kind of like my second signature.

“I use it to try to be the best, go on top and do the best work,” Bond says of how The Pinnacle provides him with personal and professional inspiration.

Bond made the frame for “Skinned Shins,” as he did for many of the paintings in his exhibit. “A lot of my frames are handmade to tie in with the handwork shown in the work itself,” he says.

While Bond’s preferred medium is egg tempera, he also works in watercolor, silverpoint, and pen and ink.

Bond, who was a classmate of artist Keith Haring, is a Kutztown High School graduate. Bond began his professional art career in 1974.

The Rotunda exhibition is sponsored by the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission.

“Time Out - Scenes from Kempton,” through Sept. 26, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, 10 E. Church St., Bethlehem. Gallery hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, Closed weekends and holidays. Information: https://bfac-lv.org/rotunda-gallery

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com