"My mother says I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil, and she felt my early attempts showed talent. I grew up knowing I should be an artist"

After high school, her mother, Bert, who is Janet’s biggest fan, saw to it that she was registered as an art major at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood. With the opportunity finally there to study art seriously, Janet hadn’t enough confidence in her own ability. While she knew she "should" be an artist, the belief in her own talent was not there.

Janet bought a "how to" book on oil painting and a set of oil paints and began to paint. When she wasn’t happy with the results, she found a compatible artist to study with, Corinne West Hartley. "Working with live models, I refined my drawings skills on my favorite subject, people." During this period, Janet went from line drawing in pencil or ink with little shading or modeling, to colorful Impressionist-style oils. "Corinne taught me the use of clear, vibrant color and the handling of light, which have become a benchmark of my work."

Although Janet has always wanted to draw people and had little interest in other subjects, she did go through different periods. "Drawing for me was always a release and an escape. I had my animal period when I discovered that portraying animals was much like doing people, only with more hair. I had a Western period, and then an African period."

Janet had her first one-woman show in 1978 in Pasadena, CA. She began accumulating ribbons and medals from juried shows. She says her works were most influenced by Corinne Hartley and by the Impressionists: "Degas for his draftsmanship and anatomy, Gauguin for color and atmosphere, and Sorolla for the handling of light." It was Corinne who helped her with her ability to portray personality and emotion, the hallmarks of her paintings today.

Janet paints people in her own style. That style has been called "enhanced realism". Her style is not surreal or super-real, but "realism as translated by my vision." The accuracy of her draftsmanship, coupled with her attention to detail, create a vision exclusive to her art. "It has been said that the best work an artist does is that done for the sake of doing it. Any other motive can affect the outcome, being a distraction to the creative vision of the artist."

"I never have had the desire to make an angry statement with my art. There is enough unhappiness in the world. I want my paintings to show happiness and love."