Meet Janet Green Jacobson ~

"... the real subject of her paintings in light."

Janet Green Jacobson’s landscapes convey a love of the land that comes from the heart, and from living in the mountains of North Carolina all her life. A native of Hendersonville, North Carolina, Janet has earned the respect of jurors, fellow artists and most importantly, the public. Janet’s career began as a traditional watercolorist, but over the years she has explored many different media as well as subject matter. From watercolor, she moved to acrylics and mixed media, and from there to oils. Currently, she works exclusively in oils on canvas. She still considers herself a student, maintaining that the learning process never stops. She feels that with each finished painting, she is a different artist than when she began the painting. She finds inspiration from a wide range of subject matter. Currently, landscapes are her main focus however she maintains that the real subject of her paintings is light.

For those who have followed Janet’s career, they have watched her style gradually shift from detailed realism toward a more contemporary art form. Though many loved her earlier representational style of watercolors, Janet now creates from an emotive focus centering on memories and feelings of her surroundings -- an art of imaginative concept rather than analytical observation. This process has freed her creativity resulting in works that are spontaneous and sometimes more conceptual. She extracts simplified but bold patterns from the natural landscape, minimizing the use of details. In this way she helps to create a mood by the qualities of light and its play on objects, and finding the abstract patterns that are created by this light. Through the use of rich, bold colors that are softly blended, Janet’s landscapes evoke a feeling of mystery and meditative stillness. She has recently introduced figures into her landscapes, adding an effect of nostalgic melancholy.

Janet studied at the University of South Carolina, earning a BA and MFA. She has participated in juried exhibitions with the National Watercolor Society, the Southern Watercolor Society and the North Carolina Watercolor Society. Her work has been shown in galleries in Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Aspen, and Scottsdale. Twelve works were purchased and now hang in the Henderson County Courthouse in North Carolina. She was the recipient of an Emerging Artist Grant in 1996, and honored locally as Best Artist of the Year for 1995. Janet shows primarily in Western North Carolina - participating in exhibitions throughout the region.