Janet James

22-29 October 2014

 

  • Over the years Janet’s love of painting has led her to experiment with oils, watercolours, pastels and acrylics.  This lifelong passion for art has filtered into her teaching where she has encouraged children; from mainstream and special needs schools, to explore their creativity by using a range of natural and manmade materials.
  • Janet left teaching in 2013 giving her the time and space to develop her practice.  Working in her studio Janet has been able to fully explore techniques and materials when creating abstracted land and seascapes.  Janet is drawn towards the reflective qualities of water and the dynamics of seas and coastlines, as well as unfamiliar landscapes that have greeted her throughout the year.

The Exhibition

  • ‘Edge is an accumulation of images based on what I’ve seen throughout the year.
    My intention is to convey my emotional response to the landscape within my paintings, which I hope will resonate with the viewer.’
  • Janet’s landscapes are created using acrylic and mixed media. They incorporate sand, wax, textural paper, thread and paint which is applied to canvas, paper or board using brushes, palette knives, fingers and sponges.  By using a process of layering and removing paint Janet aims to reflect the rich and complex landscapes that inspire her work.

The Year

  • A weekend of painting in Pembrokeshire encouraged a variety of techniques and textures into my work. The Presili hills, the estuary at Newport and the autumnal colours of Dinas Head were my inspiration.
  • Later in September we travelled to Sardinia where the white rocks, cliffs and deep blue seas were a dominant feature of the coastline.
  • In February, through the gales and floods, we headed to Cornwall for another weekend of painting.  This introduced some more abstract techniques and the merging of colours using free flowing paint.
  • In May we visited the south of France and the town of Arles sur Tech.  The beautiful scenery on the edge of the Pyrenees, the snow capped mountains and the white houses with terracotta roofs were the view from the bedroom window.
  • Scotland and the remote Hebrides inspired a large number of my paintings.  The beautiful island of Skye with its’ mountains and lochs and the rugged islands of Lewis and Harris were breathtaking.  Here the beaches were huge and empty. The sands were white and the sea was a hundred shades of aqua blue, green and purples. The shorelines became a focus for me as we spent most of our time walking along the edge of the sea and paddling in the icy waters.
  • Returning to Cornwall in July for an opportunity to paint outdoors in the Cornish Coves was a fitting finale.
  • I am hoping to continue to experiment and develop my paintings this coming year and exhibit in late October 2015 at the Gardens Gallery.

 

Open daily 10am-5pm

Entry Free

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