Jane Ellis
Living on the edge of dartmoor, each day I am able to view the march of time upon the river dart. I walk and or swim every morning along the river , and can observe the differences as the sun rises or sets throughout the seasons.
Similarly, especially the last 18 months i have had opportunity to see the daily change in my garden. I love to spend time, immersing myself in the sense of place i have created.
I work in a plant nursery and thus being an artist gardener i have created a garden which in Itself reflects my love of colour, natural shape and form.
So i have had ample opportunity to paint both my garden and alongside the river bank, each time seeing a distinction in the colours and the effects of another twenty four hours on what i had thought was a familiar view. How enlightening to see this constant movement of light each day highlighting a new shape or set of shapes.
The temptation to reproduce what we see is so hard to resist. What I strive for is more emotional: to explore, expand, and develop what makes me react so powerfully to a subject. To a view, to a breathtaking instant of light, or a wonderful piece of music.
I attempt bold and energetic abstractions which express my feelings, mostly about what surrounds my daily life, the landscapes of Dartmoor and south Devon, and the vivid colours and seasonal changes in the plant Nursery where I work.
My paintings are the essence of my response to place . I am an intuitive emotional and experimental artist and my painting journey becomes a conversation between myself and the unfolding artwork.
Making art is all about breathing out what is inside , it is just another way of keeping a diary ( emotional or otherwise) a fleeting moment in a timeless space.
The energy of nature invites me to paint, creates a space in which to immerse myself, the place, my emotions, to reveal the submerged, presences that underlie existence.
I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out , I found, was really going in – John Muir
Regular Exhibitions
Birdwood House , Totnes.
Harbour House, Kingsbridge
Salcombe Art Club
Devon Open Studios
I have also exhibited at
Princetown Visitor Centre
TAAG, Teignmouth
Finalist Devon Landscape painter of the Year
Instagram @janeellisartist
www.devonartistnetwork.co.uk
