Style Artist

Tell us a little about yourself

I live and work on a little hobby farm nestled in the bush near Warwick. I work full time as an artist and along with my husband Ben we own Jane Donaldson Art Gallery. We love ferreting around our veggie patch and flower garden, tending to our animals, messing up the kitchen and huddling around the backyard bonfire with our kiddies.

Describe your style?

There’s a few basic premises at the heart of every one of my paintings – imagination, colour and stories. I’ve discovered that art is an antenna for feeling, it’s a receptacle for memory and it’s a dandelion wish for the future, and for me it’s a way to explain and record what I see and feel. These bring me to where I am today - a painter and maker of colourful, whimsical stories dug out of my imagination, observations and musings.

What inspires you?

Absolutely everything! The rhythm in music makes my brushes bounce on the canvas, melody has shape, stories are full of colours, spoken words make pictures in my head, smell has texture. Remembered dreams have fantastical storylines and impossible happenings.

When did you start painting/drawing?

I have always loved making things and can’t remember a time when I wasn’t doodling or creating something. I started delving into painting when Belle, our youngest, started school in 2008.

How has it evolved and what has influenced this?

Beginning as a hobby artist, I learnt and developed my style without formal qualifications or study - just a determination to create.

Why do you enjoy painting?

I enjoy the way in which art making forms a funnel for external stimulus to mix with those things I feel and think and imagine.

What are some of the highlights/ favourite moments of your artistic life?

Because of my preoccupation with people and relationships, painting allows me to connect and tell not only my own stories but those of my clients also. It’s a highlight when a client invites me into their life and family story and trusts me to tell it through paint or collage or when someone buys my art, saying, ‘your story is mine also’.

What do you like about Toowoomba?

I love Toowoomba for its green gardens.