"As the sun provides the color the dance is in the shadows"

Janis is a native Californian who found herself living in New Mexico in the mid 1990's. She was drawn to the dramatic landscape of New Mexico and began taking pastel classes from Deborah Christiansen (Secor). Janis found her tribe and painted alongside her friends and mentors in the budding days of the early pastel painters of this century. She studied with Albert Handell, Bob Rhom, Clark Mitchell, Gill Dillinger and more recently with Richard McKinley.  Her love of nature and the outdoors was a natural companion to her passion for painting plein air and continual quest to share her view through her paintings.

In 2006, Janis moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, where the pristine setting of her new home provides endless inspiration for her work. Janis’s landscape paintings in both oil and pastel can now be found in galleries in Oregon and California. Her honors include signature status in Pastel Society of New Mexico, Sierra Pastel Society, and Northwest Pastel Society. Janis has been published in The Pastel Artists International Magazine and won numerous prestigious awards in regional, national and international shows.

Janis shares her knowledge, skills, techniques, and passion for Pastel painting with her students (at all levels). Her classes fill quickly as her reputation in teaching is based on over 18 years of credentialed teaching experience and consulting.