Janeen Schissler's first fifteen years of her largely self-taught art career was spent developing skills and techniques painting in watercolor. Her paintings can be purchased in the Arkansas Craft Guild & Gallery, 104 E. Main, Mountain View as she recently became a new member, having moved to Norfork in 2021.
"I employed both transparent and opaque paints (gouche). I was coached by Ward Tollbom, a renowned waterfowl watercolorist in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1980’s. I was fascinated with the amount of layered detail that transparent watercolor could achieve, especially rendering bird feathers. Painting game birds was my passion. To my surprise, I began selling my work very quickly. For most of those fifteen years I exhibited in galleries and wildlife art exhibits. In the mid 1990’s the art market cooled and I found I had more time to study classical mediums. I studied drawing on a deeper level with Anthony Ryder."
"I also began to create quick paintings with soft-chalk pastels. I found that I could use watercolor as an underpainting and then apply pastel in a layered technique over watercolor to create a “broken-color,” optical blending employed by the Impressionists of the 1800’s. Determined to master pastel painting I studied with Sally Strand and Teresa Saia - master pastel painters. In 2007 I submitted my work to the National Pastel Society Annual Exhibit and received the Purchase Award. Through the years I enjoyed classical subjects like still life painting so I have added still life subjects to my repertoire."
"I work several different ways in developing and designing a painting. I like to sketch out my plan in the initial stages. Ideally, I work from life. But many times I will work from photographs that I have taken. Since it is rare that a single photograph will have all of the design elements that make a good composition I may work from several photographs as well as sketches. I also work plein air as much as possible since plein air painting is a great skills tool for training the artist’s eye."
She started her own Schissler Academy of Fine Arts in Colorado before moving to Arkansas in 2021. Read more about Janeen's development as an artist and instructor on her artist roster page.
Comments