“Painting was my first love. I am compelled to paint my life experience whether it is of nature, my relationships, or just my daily flow of thoughts and feelings. My morning walk to the studio is through the garden. My view as I work is of the garden. Here I am visited by myriad creatures from nature including a Cardinal that sings to me and a red-tailed hawk that likes to bathe in my creek. These are my muses.”

Artists Statement:

I began my career as a realist watercolor painter, and though I still love the detail that is found in nature, I found myself longing to capture that “something more” that I discovered in my personal experience of the world. This desire to explore in my work that which is beyond the rational or physical realm led me to a more intuitive and experimental approach to both the materials and the expression of painting.

My mixed media creations on canvas do not come from preconceived ideas. They come from the inner most chambers of my soul where my life experiences combine with my creative core. In these creations I attempt to capture the essence of my personal life experience.

I trust my training in technique, color and composition to carry through as I allow each work to flow from that intuitive realm.

“Doors” symbolize those times in my life when I either closed a door or a door closed to me. I came to trust that when this happened there was inevitably a new door about to open.

In “The Goddess Series” I explore the Divine within and how it is expressed to the world through my innermost physically feminine being.

Being an artist involves seeing with fresh eyes, looking for the metaphor, the teacher, in each life experience. Expressing my personal experience through both painting and writing has become a way of life for me.

Jan’s Newest Series: A Thousand Ways to Kiss the Earth

This new series of mixed media paintings symbolizes Jan’s love of and deep connection with nature, concern for the health of our planet, and nature as Jan’s creative inspiration. Each painting has hidden somewhere within “a kiss” symbolizing Jan’s love for “All That Is.”

This work was done in companion with the writing of her recently published novel A Thousand Ways to Kiss the Earth (2024)

Gallery of Paintings

 

Poetic Paintings

Door Series

Goddess Series