Gallery of Yesteryear
Featuring
Janick
Fine Art
in
Oils and Watercolors
Artist: Jan (Janick) Smithen
Restless Sea
Water Lillies
Sunflowers
Morning in the Rockies
BIOGRAPHY
Jan Smithen uses her nickname, Janick, on her paintings. She enjoys a broad spectrum of subjects in her work, painting landscapes en plein air, still life’s, seascapes, people, and floras’. Jan works at her craft the same way she approaches life itself, with a true joie de vivre.
Jan is a versatile painter and a colorist. Many of her paintings are impressionistic and done in alla prima style. Her preferred medium is oil painting, but she likes to stretch herself with watercolors, acrylics, and gouache, too.
Born in Ventura, California, Jan grew up on the west coast. She studied art appreciation as a liberal arts major on the east coast at the University of South Carolina. Later she lived for seven years on the Gulf coast in Pensacola, Florida. As a result of all that coastal living, she has a deep love for the sea and is a member of the American Society of Marine Artists. Jan now resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she is a member of Alpha Rho Tau (an artists’ community service group) and the Oklahoma Plein Air Painters.
Jan has continued her art studies with nationally known artists such as Mary Russell, Diane Ainsworth, J. Chris Morel, Judy McCombs, Hugh Walkinshaw and letter artists such as Marsha Brady and Suzanne Moore. She exhibited in two shows at Visions Art Gallery in Tulsa last year (2005), one of watercolors and the other oils. She also had two watercolor and two oil paintings in the Bartlesville, Oklahoma Art Association’s 53rd Annual Spring Show this year (April 7-23, 2006).
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I cannot remember a time when I did not enjoy drawing or painting. However, my younger years were devoted to the study of music, and art was discouraged. It wasn’t until later that I was able to give myself to painting.
I am fascinated with the reflection and movement of light, and I am drawn to color, shapes, and the contrast between light and dark. My intent is not just to paint a pretty picture. I want to engage the viewer of my work as a true participant and to evoke an emotional response. I believe that art is like music—that it touches the innermost part of the soul, and that is my goal.
Address: PO Box 52283, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74152
Email Janick at: mailto:janick1@peoplepc.com