Janet Keith
Janet Keith
Colour, energy and a feeling of nature are hallmarks of Janet’s work.
She is interested in exploring how the unpremeditated and the more considered elements of pictorial structure weave together to build an expressive painting.
Janet’s approach is to begin working with no preconceived idea of how the painting will look when it is finished. She activates the blank canvas with a variety of spontaneous marks and areas of colour. This is a fast and exciting phase of working which enables energy to surface from the unconscious onto the canvas. When this first flush of activity subsides, the pace of working slows as Janet patiently observes, listens and responds to those marks and colours. She begins to search for and emphasise the pictorial structure which the painting needs to stand up - the armature on which the free flowing expression can grow - then continues to weave the spontaneous and the considered elements together - whilst keeping the painting and her mind open to unforeseen possibilities.
Janet’s goal is to create a painting that excites in the making - enjoying the placing of each colour, line or shape next to another, until the painting rings true to her. She considers that her approach to painting echoes the rhythms and processes present in the natural world of which we are all a part.
Janet is influenced by the very rural surroundings of her studio, travels near and far, all kinds of music and the sounds of nature - birdsong, the sea, breezes through trees.…She has particular love for the landscapes of the U.K. and Southwest USA. Her artistic influences range far and wide from fourteenth century Sienese altarpieces, to Indian miniatures, Japanese woodcuts, and twentieth century American and British painting.
She has paintings in both private and public collections and exhibits regularly in the U.K.
Qualifications
M.A.(Hons) History of Art, St. Andrews University. Scotland.
Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales
B.A.(Hons) Creative Arts (Painting), OCA
Selected Awards
2020/21 - Royal Ulster Academy awarded “ Listening for Curlews” the prestigious Paul Henry Landscape Prize at their 139th annual exhibition, Ulster Museum.
2020/21 - Northern Ireland Civil Service acquires “ Waltzing Green “ for permanent collection at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast.
2013 Glyndebourne Festival Opera. East Sussex. Artist in Residence.
Elected member of the Ulster Society of Women Artists.
