Jan's Original Watercolor Designs

A painting is a doorway, an open window, a passageway to transfer into another space. It should take me somewhere as I am painting it and you somewhere as you are viewing it. My paintings begin with the question “What drew me to this subject?” As I paint, I move through this question by looking at my world through a filter that guides me to ask what is next, then go where the answers lead me. This creates an important focus in capturing the moment because I have softened or left out elements less important to heighten areas for your eye to discover. My intention is to create an unexpected translation of the subject, a colorful interpretation, not a literal replication. My inspiration might be a place I visited during my travels, a photo of a child or pet that captures a moment in time with an expression, a posture. Or the way dawn breaks on the horizon and falls upon the land, sunshine as it shimmers through the petals of a flower, an evening shadow across a table. It is in that moment, I pause and realize I am overcome by a stirring, a longing, an ache ~ and I must paint.