Jane Welles – Artist Spotlight

Who are you and what do you do? 

My name is Jane Welles and I paint the landscape, on the spot (plein air) and in the studio. I was an art major and my watercolor instructor would take us out to paint in the fruit orchards around San Jose and it seemed like the natural way to paint the landscape. I painted with watercolor for thirty years, then switched to pastel, and now I like to use gouache and oil paint.

Why do you do what you do?

Painting for me is a way to communicate, it allows me to express how much I love being outdoors. I agree with John Muir when he said, “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” I get a strong spiritual connection to the landscape when I am painting outdoors. There is a Navajo prayer, “Beauty Walk”, that says, in part, “With beauty all around me, may I walk”. It always makes me happy when one of my paintings makes a connection with someone and I can share my love of the landscape.

What themes do you pursue?

Because I have a love affair with the landscape that is what I mostly paint. Occasionally I will do a still life, and I did portraits of my granddaughter and my dog. I love reality and because there is so much beauty all around us, that is what I try to get down on the canvas.

Describe a real life situation that inspired you.

When I was in the second grade, my teacher had us write a poem and illustrate it. I wrote a poem about how a weeping willow needs a pillow, it was on one of those big pieces of paper with a big space at the top with a couple of lines at the bottom. I still have it because my mom saved it in a box with a bunch of my old school papers. Now I get inspired when I go on road trips with painting friends to beautiful places like the eastern sierras.

What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

I had several odd jobs while I was going to school, I prepped everything for a salad bar at a steak house, was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant, worked in the college bookstore, cocktail waitress, was a change girl at Harrah’s in Reno, and did housekeeping and prepped breakfast at a B&B. After I got a degree in art and a teaching credential at San Jose, I worked in the Title I program for the Nevada City school district for thirty-one years.

What are your hobbies?

I used to sew a lot and made clothes for my kids and made slipcovers for my furniture. I also liked to garden and grow flowers. But now everything I do is all about art, like going to visit museums and art galleries, watching videos and reading books and magazines about art, and taking trips to different painting locations. I am the founder of the Nevada County Plein Air Painters and we have been meeting once a month since the nineties. I do art with my grandkids and watch their sporting events. I take my Australian shepherd for a daily bike ride and I work out three times a week.