painting from life

Jane has a BA Hons Degree in French and German from the University of Exeter in Devon, UK. She initially worked in the book publishing industry for several years and began painting whilst teaching English in Japan.

She has been studying portraiture at The Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea since 2018, regularly painting models from life in oils. She has also completed City Lit’s Year of the Figure and Portrait programme based in Holborn. She takes commissions for portraits of children and adults, working from her London studio.

She painted nine free oil portraits for NHS workers over the Covid lockdown. Her portrait of three nurses from Kings College Hospital, London, was included in artist, Tom Croft’s book ‘Portraits for NHS Heroes’, published by Bloomsbury. Jane has exhibited in the UK, (London and Dorset), The Netherlands and Japan.

My painting of three nurses is published in Tom Croft’s book

Plein air pastel sketch in Andalucia

‘I have always painted, but started my formal training with the art of Sumi-e, learning with a Master of the art in Yokohama, whilst teaching English in Japan. Linked to the Zen philosophy, Sumi-e is a meditational process, where one concentrates entirely on the present, and aims to capture the essence of the subject.  Simplicity, purity and space are important within the composition of the painting. These elements have remained with me in my current work.

From Japan, I moved to The Netherlands, where I spent several years studying still life flower painting at the de Werkschuit art school in Gouda, drawing inspiration from such Dutch painters as Rachel van Ruysch, Vermeer and Van Gogh and the genre painting of the Dutch Golden Age.

I enjoy working plein air, when possible, or simply near to the sound of nature and silence. I am compelled to record vignettes of my world and travels, and to explore colour and the effects of light and reflected light on the form’

Plein air sketching in Grindelwald, Switzerland