I am attracted to stone, yet I am not a sculptor. Stones are the building blocks of ancient societies. For me, they become part of the people who have come before. Hopefully the viewer is able to feel some sense of these people “within the walls” in the Italian paintings. Formerly a painter of interiors/still life, I found it impossible to not focus on the landscape while in Italy. Previous paintings included still life with Victorian objects, or moody Victorian architectural elements in interior settings. While I seldom paint figures in these settings, hopefully one feels a presence of the people who make Italy so unique for me. The joy and elation and warmth I feel while immersed in Italian culture is a big part of why I love to paint.

Excerpts from Publications

“ ‘Scenes from Italy’ was inspired by several visits to various parts of Italy and Sicily. While having a sensitivity to the landscape, this painter is far more concerned by the moods Italy evokes. More often elation and warmth than merely a concern for color, value, shape, form and design (which are of course also a part of these compositions), I am ‘not interested in perfection’…thus I usually choose images which are apt to be ruins of some sort, or architectural elements as part of a landscape. Tiny villages with little or no connection to the outside world, a shepherd’s shack, an earthquake shaken stairway or an ancient family shrine—I believe these images more easily capture the essence of the people than the grandest of cathedrals—so that’s more of what I am after. I am hoping that the observer can feel a sense of the people living ‘within the walls’, for I am ever conscious of those who came before and lived within this ancient land. Although few of my paintings ever include figures, I hope viewers can feel a sense of people in the past who personify these images in their own way.'”

“In the past, Janice has been a still life/architecture painter. Interiors, and dressing table compositions have made up most of her previous work, but now she says that it is impossible to be in Italy without spending some time interpreting the landscape in some form or other, Here we can view some of these landscapes and architectural forms which begin to give the viewer these interpretations of the ‘moods of Italy’”.