Janis began her love of drawing in early grade school. Her parents supplied her with blank paper and a "big box" of crayons. This allowed her to use her imagination to create pictures with lots of color. She was hooked on drawing and expressing herself in art. She experimented with mixing colors. Around the age of eight she experimented with a box of food coloring and 8 to 10 glasses of clear water. She was absolutely amazed by what happened when she mixed blue and yellow: presto! green! It was magic... and the possibilities were endless. For years she dabbled in watercolors, fascinated by the effects of mixing colors and what the paper could do with a little imagination. Then one day she decided to try colored pencils. She could still mix colors, the process was much more predictable, correcting errors was much easier, and she could incorporate more detail in her art. Now she is "hooked" on pencils and enjoy drawing even more. With her studio overlooking Penn Cove and Coupeville she particularly enjoys creating drawings based on the endless patterns, colors, and the variety of shapes found in nature. Each drawing takes many hours and layers of color, but she enjoy the process. Janis hopes you enjoy her work as much as she enjoys creating it! |