I was born in Colorado and was an inveterate tomboy. I left every morning, only came back home for a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and went right back outside until almost dark. The whole day was spent climbing trees, catching snakes, studying birds with my little Golden Field guide. When the weather was bad I would sit inside drawing wildlife. My parents were neither artists, nor outdoors people but they gave me the best gift a parent can give a child. – They let me be myself. And –to add to that, they encouraged me with “How to Draw” books, pads of paper, graphite and colored pencils and also bought me the field guides.
There was an old curmudgeon who lived at the end of the street. He was a retired biologist. Somehow I pestered him enough that he let me go into his home. It was the most amazing place. Cabinets with skulls in them, drawers of eggs and nests, jars with perfectly preserved lizards and snakes, beetles and butterflies pinned on foam core. It opened the world of being a naturalist – one who loves nature – for me that I retain to this day.
When I was 12, may father who was an oil and gas lawyer, decided to partner with his brother in Oklahoma. We moved there with me kicking and screaming. I LOVED Colorado – I LOVED the mountains.
In high school I took art classes. My teacher was an artist, but was making ends meet by teaching, and he hated it. But I actually learned a lot from him – he loved to lecture and talk about artists, mostly current modern/abstract/ contemporary artists. I learned to love artists like Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and Clyfford Still. But the teacher and I butted heads continually. I have always had self-confidence and stubbornness, even though I actually really am shy. One time I was drawing while the teacher was lecturing. He said “Little Jan-ie put down your pencil or I’ll send you the principal’s office”. I said “Fine. Send me to the principal’s office for doing art in an art class.” Needless to say he didn’t. Many years later I was hanging in a museum show that he also had work in.
At that time I was also – as many teenage girls are – into horses. So they reflected heavily in my art during that time. As well as birds and other animals. When it was time for college I picked the University of Tulsa, simply because I wanted to be where my horses were. Unfortunately the art instruction – as most universities were in the seventies – into modern art only. They refused to grade anything that they could tell what it was. After three years I quit. I had finally figured out: A) I didn’t need a degree to be a fine artist, and B) the teachers couldn’t make a living with what they were doing – so they taught. Again, my parents, though disappointed, supported my decision.
I had always thought when I was young and grownups would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, that it was a really weird question. I always knew I would be an artist. Being an artist is who you are, not what you do.
I met my first husband and moved to Bartlesville, were I set up a studio and began doing my art in earnest to try to sell. I worked originally in pencil, pen and ink, and etchings. Doing a few outdoor art fairs in the area, and began selling. I knew I could be successful. But I felt I was not portraying the nature I so loved accurately in black and white, so I set off to decide what paint medium to use. I tried watercolor – but was horrible at it as you have to plan it out carefully, and mistakes, or changing your mind was pretty close to impossible. I’m a messy artist, and the painting as it goes along quite often “tells” me when something isn’t right so I change my mind. Not the medium for me.
I hated the drying time of oils (I am sort of an immediate gratification person, and impatient.) I also hated the smell – and the fumes would be bad for my parrots that were in the studio with me.
I contacted an artist who worked in acrylic and asked if he gave lessons. He said no – but I could come watch him work, which I did. I was hooked. I have now been a professional artist for over 40 years and have never looked back. When artists ask me how to keep paint from drying so fast – I tell them to paint in oils. In fact I work in many, many layers and dry them even faster with a hairdryer.
I then discovered Robert Bateman, an artist that literally changed the world of wildlife art from the sporting art field of flying ducks, dogs pointing quail etc. He appeared with paintings like orca whales, mice in snow, vultures eating a wildebeest carcass. I begin taking workshops from him (and others) but I especially loved Bob’s intellectual approach to what he paints; many times being inspired by the work of contemporary artists – like Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and Clyford Still. I went to so many workshops Bob began calling me his favorite stalker. Now he calls me one of his biggest success stories. I am honored to have my work hang next to his in museum exhibitions, and to be able to call him my friend.
The first 15 years of my career I painted only North American subjects, as I am a strict believer that an artist must experience what they paint. Feeling the wind in your hair, touching the sponginess of moss, listening to the sounds of the forest and inhaling the earthy aroma of a herd of bison. All this “information” gets into your head and comes out at the end of your brush (or whatever tools that you use) giving verisimilitude to your work.
As my career progressed I moved from outdoor fairs, to exhibitions, indoor art shows, and museum shows. I now have my work in the permanent collection of several museums in the U.S. and one in London. I have collectors from all over the world.
I then decided to go to Africa (I had been to the rainforest in Central and South America and was doing paintings from there). I took three years to plan my first trip to Kenya in 1996 – and went back every year for 20 years. My husband James Hines, a talented nature photographer and I, began leading groups to Africa, as a way to get be able to afford these trips every year. In 2018 we decided to move there. We had talked about it for years, and knew we weren’t getting any younger. So here we are now, in Tanzania and absolutely loving it! I felt when I got off the plane during my first trip that I was home. I could feel it in my bones – more accurately my DNA. And living here now proves that to me.
I am an ardent conservationist, and have been since I was young. I have worked with many different groups of people both in the U.S. and Africa in boots on the ground projects as well as routinely donating $100,000 of thousands annually too many different groups for fund raising. I also hope my art opens people’s eyes a bit more to the importance of our natural world. I do still paint North American – but obviously my love of Africa has taken over and the majority of my work is now African subjects.
Life is slower here, and I no longer feel the need to be chained to the painting table 24/7 to met the demands of all the art shows and to make my living. Here it is much cheaper to live. I still show my work in the U.S. but mostly now I work with a very large gallery here in Tanzania. I now have the time to go out into the field and photograph butterflies, learn about plants, catch lizards – even getting bitten by cobra as I tried to save it from local men who were trying to kill it. I got anti-venom in time and now can add that to the list of my life experiences. In fact, I just painted an adult hooded Egyptian cobra (the one that bit me was a baby but their venom is just as lethal). I would have never given myself “permission” to have painted something like that before.
I had been wanted to do a book for quite some time that would span a wide range of interest – artists, collectors and nature lovers. I wanted to incorporate the entire “journey” that a wildlife artist goes through to create a finished work. I focused the book around one painting “AT THE WATERHOLE” that has a family of elephants at a waterhole near a Baobab tree, with various birds in the scene as well. PART I is called “The Journey of the Experience” using photographs, journal entries and sketches to tell specific stories that revolved around the subjects of the painting.
This took MUCH longer than I had expected, almost five years! Going over 20 years worth of trips to Africa, looking through the journals and sketchbooks, and photographs, mainly in film format so they had to be scanned. It was HUGELY time consuming to decide what to use and not use. PART II is called “The Journey of Creating the Painting”. This section shows the “stages” I went through to create the painting. It isn’t a “how to” by any means, but just gives an insight into my creative process. I have so many, many stories from my trips, and now living here I know there are many more books to come!!!
James, my husband (who is a nature photographer and videographer doing a lot on our YouTube channel) and I use to lead groups to Africa. We kept saying we would love to live there. And then one day we decided we weren’t getting any younger and if we were going to do it, the time was now. We sold our house, all our belongings and moved to Tanzania.
We chose Tanzania as we have friends here that could “show us the ropes”. I brought all my supplies with me, and on subsequent trips back I, or sometimes friends, will bring more.
Fortunately, the paint I use is very color intensive so they last a long time. I love it here. While we don’t live out in bush (for many reasons) we do live just down the road from Arusha National Park.
I haven’t seen tons of wildlife at my studio since we are in a village – but lots of incredible birds and reptiles. Even had the experience of getting bitten by a cobra (I got anti-venom in time so I’m fine). I love everything about living here and only wish we had moved here sooner.
I say that my art will be my immortality, living on long after I’m gone. Being a naturalist is my fountain of youth as even though I’ve studied it for 60 some odd years, I learn something new about nature every day. There’s not many things you can say that about.
