Following a career as a music and art teacher in Ottawa, Jan was introduced to Botanical Art through a course given by esteemed botanical artist, Kerri Weller.  Capturing the beauty of nature through art appealed to her and she began creating botanical works in watercolours.  She later switched to using coloured pencil and water-soluble pencils, enjoying the versatility of these media, as well as the range of beautiful, vibrant colours.  Her enthusiasm for coloured pencil led to teaching Botanical Art courses at the Nepean Visual Arts Centre where she gets to share what she has learned with eager and dedicated students.  

Jan enjoys working with vibrant colours in her work, as well as creating depth of colour by applying many layers of different pencil colours.  She also likes to break up the picture plane in different ways to create unique compositions.

Since working in Botanical Art, Jan has exhibited her botanical art works with the Botanical Artists of Canada, the City of Ottawa Archives Gallery, the Trinity and Ottawa School of Art galleries at the Shenkman Arts Centre, the Herb Garden Gallery, the Agriculture Museum in Ottawa’s Experimental Farm, the Orchid Society and the Nepean Visual Arts Centre. Jan had her very large work, Sugar Maple, selected by a jury for the Art of the Plant exhibition held at the Stonewall Gallery, Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa in 2018.

Jan has been president of the Ottawa Society of Botanical Artists and a member since the inception of this dynamic group of artists who share their love of nature and art.