Janet Jacobs: Looking at Light and Space

My interest in light, space, spirit, and gesture are reflected in my paintings of the natural landscape.

I look for areas of light in the deep space between and through trees. I watch for the sun as it sits in the canopy and I look at the variety of textures and colors. My internal delight at the movement of light and space makes me aware of a deeper connection with the natural world, and myself. Seeing and making art about the play of light and space allows for more of those things in my life.

I paint the way I see. I start with the lightest areas, laying in paint for spaces before I paint trees and foliage. I locate the canopy by painting the spaces around it. Increasingly, the trees are becoming the framework for the light, the space, and the gestural movements of the leaves.

Compositional thinking sits underneath everything I paint. I am aware of line, movement, and color, and how elements overlap. I appreciate the beauty of pure paint, and I like working with abstraction within a piece. I think about transparent paint vs. opaque, near color or far, and the use of expressive marks. As much as I’m working with light, space, color, and spirit, I’m also working with formal issues of composition.

I am emphasizing the things in the landscape that effect me the most—open space; space to connect in light and warmth; color; movement; the passage of time; birth and death; truth; and beauty.