Judge: Jan Ross
Jan is passionate about watercolors! Her formal art education began at the Chicago Academy of Art and has continued through workshop instruction with some of America’s top watercolor painters, including, Judy Betts, Joseph Boehler, Gerald Brommer, Betty Carr, Joe Fettingis, Jim Kosvanec, Jan Kunz, Lynn Pratt, David Rankin, John Salminen, Mel Stabin, Arne Westerman, Mary Whyte, and others.
Focusing on watercolor painting for the past 40 years, Jan’s work has received numerous awards at the Local, Regional, National and International levels. She was awarded her ‘Signature Membership’, the Highest Level of Achievement in a watercolor society, by the Georgia, Alabama, Rhode Island, Western Colorado, Missouri, Alaska, Northeastern, and Red River and Southern Watercolor Societies, Elected Member of the American Artist Professional League, as well as her ‘Member of Excellence’ in the Atlanta Artist Center, the largest fine art group in the Southeast. Her work has been selected and exhibited in more than 500 juried, invitational, one-woman and group shows.
In 2023, Jan achieved her goal of having her work exhibited in museums or galleries in all 50 states in the USA. Converse University includes Jan’s work in their Permanent Collection and Jan’s work is included in collections across the United States, Scandinavia, Europe and treasured in Kirkuk, Iraq
Jan’s paintings have been published many times, most notably on the cover of the international equestrian magazine, ‘Chronical of the Horse’. Her work is included in, ‘Voices and Visions of Youth and Wisdom’, celebrating Cobb County’s 175th Anniversary and ‘Children 2021’ select works of 100 artists worldwide.
Having traveled to 27 countries and living in Europe for 6 years, Jan is fortunate to have continued her studies of the Masters, and has acquired an enormous amount of subject matter to paint. For the past decade, paintings of people, portraits and those in everyday life have captured her interest. Her style is one of layering ‘washes’ of watercolor to produce rich colors and a 3-dimensional effect while retaining the luminosity of the white paper surface below.
Jan is on the faculty of the Art League of Hilton Head Art Academy and the Daufuskie Independent Middle School. She also teaches private lessons.
