About the Artist

Janet Rempel is primarily a watercolor artist, also in love with the depth and texture of oil and acrylic paints.  From the age of six,  Janet has called California home; experiencing the timelessness of the Mojave desert, moving into the urban life near the golden beaches of LA in her college years, and later while raising a family, choosing to live in the Sierra Nevada foothills lined with oak trees, backed with mountains close and tangible.   So it is no wonder then, that Janet’s artistic expressions are inspired by Nature.  For her, Art is about beauty: the power of light and shadow,  intricate and sweeping shapes whether delicate or massive, the grace of movement from wind or wave, and the endless array of color. Or as she describes it,  “Art is the captured music of a moment”.

Janet’s mother had been a portrait artist working with oils, pastels and charcoal , and encouraged exploration and creativity.  Yet her own artistic journey really began with the fascinating medium of watercolor that began in her first watercolor class when her children were very young.  After many years of self-education, she began taking watercolor classes from notable teachers, and her artistic journey continues. Having garnered many awards for her watercolor paintings in the Central Valley of California, she continues to be  a student of her art, always seeking to improve in her ability to convey and communicate what is in her minds eye. “ The process of art making is about seeing and then communicating that vision to others.”  Her reference photos are filled with whatever intrigues her: back lighting, silhouette, pattern, design.  Horses particularly fascinate her by their movement and grace.  The tangle of plant life, flowers, intertwined branches, aspen or forest trees are forever new.  And cowboys, guitars, and old buildings, well who can resist?   Her landscapes are created from snapshots taken in the West, whether spring, summer, winter or fall and all of her images are springboards for her compositions as she seeks a painterly realism in her work.

Artist statement:

“I have learned that passion and desire to be an art maker, are wonderful for launching a person into the waters of creating, and though that passion keeps nipping at my heels, to make it to the distant shore of “being” a powerful art maker, involves perseverance and work, work and perseverance. Yet the process of creativity is a place of joy, for there is wonder and mystery and endless possibility to life!  There is beauty in unexpected moments! Color and light are so prevalent in the habit of seeing, that it is worth the time to stop and enjoy their wonder anew as seen through the eyes of another as expressed in their art, or better still through my own eyes as expressed through my own art.   I believe creativity is a gift set before each one of us as human beings, and it is up to us just how much we will embrace it and be changed by it.”