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Jane Connelley is a nut, but she isn’t nuts. Ask her how she stays sane and she’ll tell you, “…I have a sense of humor.” Her love of life and humor is a common theme in her work - where realistic potatoes snuggle on an abstract, textural background and surrealistic lobsters gaze at a carefully rendered still life of lemons.
Her skillful drafting stems from years of experience. She’s been receiving awards and honors since her first group competition, at the age of seven. When other children in her neighborhood were playing Tag, Jane was in the woods with a pencil and a sketchpad. Even then, she added comical twists to her realistic drawings.
As a young adult, Jane joined the Marine Corps and frequently drew cartoons for her fellow Marines. After her discharge from the service, Jane married her best friend and settled in Seattle, Washington. He gave Jane a box of paints for Christmas the first year - and with that gift, a whole new world of color. Jane painted prolifically for several years, sometimes working through the night without noticing. But, when her fifth child was born she learned to love dry media again (paint and babies “just didn’t mix”). With inspiration in every room of the house, some of her best drawings of children were produced in that period.
Then, at the age of 31, Jane found herself suddenly widowed with five young children and a mountain of debt. The realities of the situation might have deterred a more sensible person from the arts, but Jane just went to work in the art materials industry. In that environment, she was able educate herself while earning a salary. With careful planning, years of frugal living, and a flair for laughing at obstacles, she reached a point where she could focus on her art again. The children now grown, she bought a new box of paints.
Jane’s recent work maintains a solid drawing foundation and incorporates the benefits of experience. Her sense of fun impacts her subject matter, while her history adds texture and depth.
In 2004 she returned to California, where she was raised, to marry the first boy that she ever had a crush on. He is a man who’d “rather come home to a happy woman with a new painting than a clean house…” so the art continues to evolve, and the artist stays sane.
'Art is long – Life is short – and tomorrow is just a horizon.” ~JC
www.musicolorful.com
