It started long ago in a far off distant land (Indiana) where Jean was born. Drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon, she was always the one who colored outside of the lines on purpose, because she knew she COULD color within the lines. One must color inside those lines in order to fit in, but she chose a different path. She has led her life outside the lines …..and that’s the way she likes it.
She has always been fascinated with people – the attitudes that reflect in their faces, the emotion, the day to day struggles and victories; and in the human form, with its shadows and light – a landscape of hills and valleys. She taught herself how to oil paint and concentrated on portraits for some time. Always wanting to make the portraits as realistic as she could, she worked on her own in studies of the human form and face. She returned to college after several years away from school to learn more about painting and drawing, ending with a degree in Graphic Design and a renewed love of painting. After raising children while working in the Graphic Design field, she was inspired by an artist friend to return to her first love…..painting and drawing. She has returned to that love only recently and has been working on shadow and light, diving head first into the smell, the feel, the sight, and the sounds of painting.
Realistic with an emphasis on dramatic contrasts…..often paired with something musical (her second love), her paintings reflect softness yet are bold with the tension found in these stark contrasts of black and white, shadow and light. Color is soft, subtle and muted in her oil work.
Jean says: “Life is filled with contrasts. I see these every day, so I paint this stark reality but try to add a soft touch, an emotional touch, to everything I paint. When I paint, I learn something new about myself, about life in general. As my life changes, so will my work. I continue to grow as an artist, and that’s what should happen. I will always reflect reality in my paintings, but as I grow, my style may alter to reflect my emotion or that of my subject. I respond to new experiences and new encounters and that will show in my work.”
Jean lives in a small town in Michigan, just north of the Indiana state line, with her daughter and cat. She still works as a Graphic Designer and paints whenever she can. She also enjoys writing short stories and, as she calls it, sappy poetry. She always says that she is an artist by profession and always has been, but was on sabbatical for a while!