My Artistic Journey

Hi there, I'm Jane,  an artist living on the edge of the stunning Peak District. My love for nature drives my creativity, inspiring    vibrant and evocative artworks. Through oils, acrylics, and mixed media, I express my heartfelt connection to the world around me.

After a lifetime of travels and living overseas I returned permanently to the UK 15 years ago and settled in unfamiliar territory to me - Chesterfield - on the edge of the Peak District.  I really didn't know if I would stay put, but here I am and still loving it!

I was a creative child and teenager but i'm sure you've all heard the story before ... I was rather firmly pushed down a business route as a career rather than living my choice of entering what I saw as the exciting environment of the local art college.  My dream was to become a textile designer.   Instead I spend my earlier career working in the Diplomatic Service instead.  Not a terribly creative role most of the time,  but I did at least enjoy discovering the creative histories of each country I was posted to.

Wind forward to this part of my life and I decided I now had the freedom  and resources to do a bit more of what I wanted to do and I returned to art.   I hired a tiny studio and I regularly locked myself away there & set myself the goal of not giving it up   until I saw results I liked. Sadly during this time my Dad passed away and whilst clearing through his office I discovered some of his own art from his early married life living in North Wales and also his old oil paints.   He had  obviously also wanted to do more art but much like he had suggested for me, he had been forced down a non creative route in order to support his family.  Retirement hadn't released him from these self imposed restraints, but mine had.  I now use a little bit of my Dad's old oil paints in each oil I create to remember him by,