© Jane E. Porter. All rights Reserved. Images may not be copied, reproduced or redistributed without the artist’s express written permission.

I question nearly every day, why I am an artist and what I have to offer. It is hard to articulate without sounding like a cliché but it is a calling, an obsessive compulsion. I’m fascinated by the unusual, often tragic lives of my kind. My research and practice considers the complexities of the creative mind, ponders it‘s fragility and laments its loss. As Byron put it, ‘We of the craft are all crazy…..some are affected by gaiety, others by melancholy, but all are more or less touched…’ To portray such concepts, I use a mix of media, oil paint and collage, graphite and wax; whatever best conveys the story.

My paintings are the physical forms of my ideas and processes but they gain new life with your interpretation. They then become part of your experience. Our emotions, beliefs and fears live quietly within the canvas, patiently hiding within the narratives. Between each layer of paint and concealed in the smallest of brush strokes are sanctuaries for secrets, waiting to be discovered. I ask you to look beyond your first impression, further than the aesthetic. If you can find something that touches or stimulates you in some way, you give meaning to my obsession.