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PrintArtist Janet Green Jacobson Finds Nature's Drama
Painter’s vibrant regional interpretations are not to be taken literally
Photo by Rimas Zailskas
On the surface, all is pastoral serenity — rolling hills, fields, creeks and forests. But Janet Green Jacobson looks for nature’s secrets — the thrillingly changeable light that pulses in mountain landscapes. “At the end of the day, everything gets more dramatic,” says the artist. “My goal is to capture that light, when the shadows are deep and purple.”
And capture it she does, through thoughtful applications of bright and dark hues that are several shades more fanciful than true-to-life. The paintings are multi-textured, layered in acidic greens and cut through with zinging orange highlights. It’s no wonder Jacobson names Gauguin, the famed colorist of the Post Impressionist era, as one of her big inspirations.
She heightens the drama through stark composition and detail. Each canvas is distinct in its own palette, as though she has let the true voice of the painting come to life. “I have learned that the harder you plan out a painting, the more it’s probably not going to turn out that way,” she says, laughing. “You definitely have to flow with it and let the creative process take over.”
This could be a metaphor for Jacobson’s own life. A native of Hendersonville, she graduated with a Master’s degree in fine art from the University of South Carolina. While raising two kids she pursued a successful career as a traditional watercolorist, making photo-realist portraits that she sold for 10 years in cities like Sante Fe, Taos and Los Angeles.
Over time, painting Southwestern scenes and images of cowboys in precise detail became unsatisfying for Jacobson. “Somewhere along the line I just thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’ I mean, I live in the mountains.” She decided to begin dabbling in acrylics, and later segued completely into working with oils.
“I was just ready to move on.”
Watercolorists must think about preserving the light value of the paper, building gradually upon darker areas of the scene. Oil paintings are generally rendered in the opposite manner, with the brightest highlights added in the final phases. “With watercolor, if you overwork it too much, it can turn to mud just like that,” explains Jacobson, snapping her fingers to make the point. “With oils it’s easier to correct your mistakes.”
Making her transition, Jacobson began using acrylics as she would watercolors, thinning them out and applying washes. Slowly she allowed herself to work with thicker applications of paint, and experimented with glazes and surface treatments. “I haven’t taken a painting class since college,” she reveals. “Everything I’ve done I’ve taught myself. I think that has really helped me develop my own style.”
The artist uses sketches and photos as reference, but often improvises composition and color choices as she works. “I think as artists we don’t have to be too literal. I can take a scene and go wherever I want with it.” From time to time she allows herself to experiment in the realm of abstract painting, and then returns to her landscapes with a new perspective.
“I’m always trying to branch out and try different things,” she says, noting her most recent work, a move away from panoramas into particulars — the ripples in a stream or the boughs of a tree, for example. The drama here is in the details.
Jacobson cites realist painter Andrew Wyeth as another (much earlier) inspiration. But her mainstay muse lurks just beyond the door of her studio. “I’m surrounded by absolutely beautiful waterfalls, mountains and nature.” Asked if she’ll ever go back to painting portraits like she did in her watercolor days, she says: “I’ve toyed with that idea a little bit. But I’m a real outdoors person, so landscapes make my heart beat faster.”
Jacobson exhibits her paintings at The Grand Bohemian Hotel in Biltmore Village, Wickwire Gallery in Hendersonville, and Red Wolf Gallery in Brevard. Visit janetgreenjacobson.blogspot.com, for more information.
