‘When I was young, I was told I had no artistic ability whatsoever’, Janet says at the start of our online meeting, ‘...in school if you didn’t play in a brass band, as these are big in Cornwall, or you weren’t academic, then you were left behind’. Having any sort of creative inclination seemingly drummed out of her therefore, it appeared as if Janet was destined to pursue a course in life outside of art; well, until she met Beryl Chapple, a talented artist who later became known for her incredible portraits of dogs. ‘She [Beryl], was a very good teacher and a great friend... she introduced me to all kinds of different artists until I just fell in love with the idea of creating myself ’. Inspired by Beryl, Janet decided to go to Exeter Art College to study Fine Art, before then moving to Somerset to study Textiles and then setting up her own historical costume business; a combination of mediums and geographies which now constitute the very essence of her work – her abstract photography.
‘I had always taken holiday snaps and dabbled in photography, but it wasn’t until 2020 during the pandemic that I really go into it when I had more time to think’ Janet tells me, ‘...so I decided that I was going to give it a really good go and set up a website’. Though, creating a website for her artwork was something that Janet had done before back in 2010, an endeavour which wasn’t as fruitful as she had hoped and now, ten years on, she seemed to be stuck in the same situation. As appeared to be the case at least, until she was reminded of the power of social media. ‘It wasn’t until my brother encouraged me to get on Instagram in 2021, a place where I could see that people were really liking [quite literally, pardon the pun] what I was creating, that I thought “I can do this”’. Since then, Janet has rejoined the Royal Photographic Society and has continued to develop upon her skills with her high-quality camera, such as experimenting with different exposures (the use of light for an image). Yet out of all the technological abilities she has refined over the past while, it has arguably been Janet’s use of photoshop and a computer graphics card that have gone the furthest toward constructing her pieces.
‘I’ve developed this working method where I’m using photographs and using photoshop extensively, but I’m also using a graphics tablet to draw as well... so I’m introducing mark making and using it in photoshop as a means by which to satisfy my artsy side, particularly my desire to paint again, and just sort of throwing it into one pot and seeing what comes out’. In saying this, Janet comes across as an artistic photographer in what is perhaps the truest definition of the title I’ve yet encountered. Though, whilst she indeed combines photography with other artistic mediums, such as drawing, or what she refers to as ‘camera painting’, what also goes to bolster her title is her integration of artistic styles. Indeed, just by creating in the way that she does, by seemingly stirring some sort of artistic cauldron that’s filled with ideas of photography, textiles and painting, so she is able to produce a very much abstract style of art.
‘so instead I’ve worked on this process of brining painting and photography together’
‘There were so many people doing what Joe Cornish [a renowned photographer of landscapes] calls ‘eye-witness photography’ that I thought it would be no good me trying to emulate that. I mean I love the landscape but there’s already so many brilliant people out there doing that, so instead I’ve worked on this process of bringing painting and photography together’. Interestingly, just like an oil or acrylic painting, Janet adds layers to her work, only these aren’t created with paint but instead through the likes of computer technology and photographic technique. ‘I try to bring these mediums together by adding layers through photoshop and multiple in-camera exposures [utilising different levels of lighting]’. Within these layers however are an abundance of styles, such as elements of aboriginal art and abstract patterns, all of which help to transform our perspective of the landscape within Janet’s works. ‘I love abstract art... I’m fascinated by balance and mark making that can be found within such works... I like the works of Kurt Jackson and Joan Eardley and I know their works aren’t exactly abstract but there’s a lot of colour, a lot of texture and many abstracted shapes and I think all of this has just feeds into my brain’.
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