About Janice

Artist Autobiography

I started on my artistic journey at the tender age of 12 years old. My Father handed me a #2 pencil and a piece of notebook paper and told me to draw a picture of his mother, my grandmother. I’ve been drawing ever since. In High School, I honed my craft. I impressed my art teacher so much that he applied, without my knowledge, for a 4 year scholarship to the University of Illinois. I was shocked and very pleased to find out that I was accepted into their art program. Being young and immature, I left school to get married and started to raise my family. I put aside my art for the next 20 years. I started to attend a nearby junior college when my daughter graduated in her senior year. I had only planned to audit my drawing classes, just to get the feel of doing what I loved. In time, I decided to change that and work towards a degree in art. The school I was attending was affiliated with a major university, Saint Louis University in Missouri. I entered several local art shows and did quite well. So well that is when my husband and I decided to leave the area, I was approached by my instructors to sign release forms in order to use my work to inspire other students.

Also, the University purchased two pieces of my first paintings for their private gallery. They proposed that one day I would someday be famous and they would own two of my first works. For years I experimented with all types of media on my own, with no more formal training. People would approach me and would ask me how long a piece took to do and how much my materials cost in order to determine the price they should pay for my artwork. Then as now, my remark would always be “ A lifetime of my experiences mixed with years of all that I am.” ~Janice