Jane skis down a ski run and tells us about being inspired by the mountain at Cypress. She takes out several paper sketches from her coat pocket and mentions that she likes to take paper and pen with her while skiing to grab “a few little gestures” while on the mountain.
In those moments, Jane is thinking of the shape and line, and the expression she feels. She says she is expressing it with the pressure of the marker while pointing to the sketch of “The Lions” she did that day.
She mentions how these and other sketches inspire her work by giving her information for the paintings she does in her studio as well as for subjects in her abstracted work.
As Jane starts sketching on location she explains that weather you are an artist working in realism or abstraction, it is always helpful to get acquainted with the subject matter or the expressions of it.
Showing us more of her sketches from the mountain, Jane says that, in fact, this is how she likes to abstract a scene. She mentions that this can be taken as a Notan Sketch, because it’s mostly the structure of the black and white she grabs, and although it has the texture involved as well, it gives her a great start for expressing a snow scene when she comes to paint it.
These are some of the impressions she leaves with us while embracing the outdoors and sketching, hoping to inspire the artist in all of us.