JANA WINTERS PARKIN has taught art and design at the college level for over 17 years, and currently teaches watercolor painting at Utah Valley University. She is an active member of the Utah Watercolor Society, having served on its board, presented workshops, and won numerous awards in their juried exhibitions. She is also a member of the National Watercolor Society. She is very excited to be teaching a watercolor workshop at Chateau Marouatte in the Dordogne region of France next June.
Jana lived and worked as a graphic designer in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years, eventually running her own studio, with a long list of noteworthy clients. About 15 years ago, Jana and her family moved to Utah. There she traded her Designer-to-the-Rich-and-Famous lifestyle for a more peaceful regimen, which allowed her to focus more on painting.
Jana’s art still has a California flair, with vibrant color and energetic brushstrokes, capturing the essence and spirit of both landscapes and figures with her signature joie de vivre. Her inspiration is found not only in her travels, but in the beauty, light and color of everyday life. Whether jubilant and bold or calm and serene, each painting is a celebration of life, light, color and creation.
Photo by Jessica Kettle
1) Tell us about your path to becoming a successful painter.
It’s a pretty circuitous path!
I have painted in watercolors my entire life. My dad is also an artist and taught me early on how to draw, how to use a brush, how to appreciate color blends, and how to make sound effects when you draw and paint. (That last one is funny, but true!)
I remember watching figure skating on TV with my dad, and him telling me, “You know how they get to be that good? They practice 8 hours a day. It’s like a job to them.” That idea resonated with me as a young girl. My dad says you have to throw away a thousand paintings before you’ve mastered the art, and I’m sure I’m well on my way. That points to the Malcolm Gladwell Outliers theory of 10,000 hours of practice making the difference.
It might surprise you that I didn’t start out ever thinking I'd become a fine artist. I worked as a graphic designer in greater Los Angeles for upwards of 17 years. One of the things that made my studio unique was that I could also illustrate my own projects in watercolor. Numerous and distinguished clients, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Hollywood Bowl, Breez Fragrances, and the Scott Newman Center came to me (or stayed with me) because of my watercolor skills, which gave their pieces a unique look and feel.
I did work (including watercolors) for a number of celebrities, including Paul Newman (Scott Newman Center, named for his son), Melanie Griffiths (Sabera Foundation), Michelle Pfeiffer (Victory over Violence) and Fred MacMurray’s widow, June (Friends of Childhelp).
Then late in the year 2000, I gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. I felt like a part of me died along with our tiny daughter. While I continued to serve my clients, my heart wasn’t in it to the same degree. It was very difficult for me to devote myself to my career at that point, when all I wanted to do was spend time nurturing my remaining children.
The next summer, I saw that Vroman's bookstore was hosting a plein air painting event in association with a forthcoming book by a local artist, Joseph Stoddard. I signed up for the event, bought the book, and attended the painting activity. As I participated, I felt something powerful awaken in me. I needed to paint. It was connected to my inner life-force. I might survive without painting, but I couldn’t thrive.
Three years later my husband had a major job change and we moved to Utah. The lower cost of living and slowed-down lifestyle allowed me to slow down my design work and devote more of my time and myself to painting. I joined the Utah Watercolor Society, and when I entered my first show, I won two awards, one of which was a merchant award for $300 of art materials. I saw it as a sign. I think God wants me to keep painting.
Then my dad and I were offered a father-daughter show at a gallery in Park City. I sold a lot of paintings there, but the biggest breakthrough came when a friend of ours attended the show, saw my work, and asked me to be a guest lecturer for a watercolor class at Utah Valley University. I prepared a slide presentation, gave the students some value scale exercises, and then did a painting demonstration.
It was the first time I had painted in front of a group, and I was so nervous I felt like I was going to have a heart attack! As soon as the class ended, the instructor, who was the area coordinator at the time, marched me right over to the department chair and told them I was hired. I honestly had no idea my little presentation was a job interview! I have been teaching watercolor at UVU for over 13 years.
2) What's the most challenging thing about teaching art?
Once I got over the sheer terror of painting in front of an audience? Actually, teaching has come very naturally to me, and is one of my greatest joys. The most challenging thing has been helping students to believe in themselves, believe they can do it, and let go of the fear of failure. I often hear myself repeating the phrase, "Trust me. Trust the process.” Just as working through the “messy middle” of a writing project can be especially daunting, there is a point in nearly every painting when you feel like you’ve blown it. Nothing is coming together, it looks like a big blurry mess, and you want to give up.
But if you hang in there until you’ve added the darkest darks, the finishing touches, suddenly it all comes together. I had one teacher tell me, “When you’re at a point of frustration, it means you’re just on the edge of a breakthrough.” That idea has helped me, and I often share it with my students when I can tell they are frustrated.
The most challenging aspect of all is also the most rewarding and joyful for me: plein air painting. I incorporate it into every semester at UVU and into my private teaching as well. Plein air painting takes you out in the world, battling the elements, chasing down fleeting light, forcing you to work within a tight time constraint, and requiring an ability to simplify a panoramic scene down to its most essential elements. I absolutely love being in nature, I am invigorated by the time constraints, and I love the experience you bring to your painting that you can never manufacture when working from a photograph.
Photo by Tom Thurston
UVU has a field-study residence within Capitol Reef National Park. For two years in a row, I took groups of students there for an entire week, painting en plein air all day and late into the evening, and many of them said it was the most significant educational experience of their entire time at UVU. They thrived under the compressed timeframe and intensified study.
I am doing something similar next summer, taking a group of private students to live in a castle in France and paint for a week. I’m so excited for the experience myself, and also for the immense opportunity for growth it offers the participants.
Plein air painting has been an especially meaningful and joyful opportunity for many of my students and friends during Covid-19, a chance to get outdoors, spend time in nature, be with other people in a safe setting, and create something beautiful. It has proved to be both satisfying and healing.
3) Which artists have influenced you the most?
I’ve been heavily influenced by the work of JMW Turner. I loved the way he captured atmosphere, motion, emotion, and light. Many of his later works are more like abstract expressionism…with a tiny little recognizable subject to make them somewhat representational. (Rain, Steam and Speed, for example).
I have also been strongly influenced by the French and American impressionists…chiefly Monet, Cassatt, Morisot, Degas, and Lautrec. They all worked en plein air, capturing the movement of light and its effect on color and atmosphere. I also love the lesser-known watercolors of Andrew Wyeth. His better-known gouache paintings are very tight and representational, and the design is sublime and serene. But his watercolors, which I’m certain he completed outdoors, are wild, passionate love letters to nature. They take my breath away.
And of course there is John Singer Sargent. We attended a Sargent show at the LACMA in Los Angeles a decade or two ago, and I was struck by the passion and energy of his brushstrokes, and the almost abstract nature of his work up close, that takes on almost a photographic realism from a distance. That requires so much skill, and the result is pure magic.
Of course there are many contemporary artists whose work I admire, but I would have to credit my greatest influence to these masters.
Photo by Tom Thurston
4) How has painting changed how you see the world?
It is powerful and invigorating. Everywhere I look, I see a potential painting. I look for changes in value, effects of light and shadow, dramatic color and emotion everywhere I go. Especially when I am someplace new, the novelty awakens my artist instinct I become hyperaware of my surroundings.
This note from a former student shows how that effect happens for amateurs as well as more dedicated artists:
“I just want to thank you for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of watercolor. And even though I struggle…I find myself looking at things and thinking, “This would be pretty to paint” or “What colors would Jana use to make that?” It’s giving me so much joy —and I really needed joy in my life at this time. so THANK YOU!!!”
—Denise M
5) What's your best advice for young people who want to make a living making art?
Draw every day.
Be curious.
Foster creativity.
Build confidence…you’ll need it!
Never give up!
There are times and seasons for everything. (I reinvented myself as a painter after 20 years as a graphic designer.)
Photo by Laurlyn Berry
Jana Parkin
Website: janaparkin.com
Cookbook: janaparkin.com/store
Blog: divergentpathways.blogspot.com
Art blog: janaparkin.com/blog
Scripture blog: feastingontheword.blogspot.com
Podcast: fromthelivingroom.com
Podcast on iTunes: bit.ly/TLRShowiTunes
Paint with me at Marouatte Castle in France next summer!
Love that your connection to painting came through the great relationship you built with your father. We know you know how to work hard and follow your passion. So proud of you and to have several of your paintings in our home! Love you!
Wow!! "WILD PASSSIONATE LOVE LETTERS TO NATURE"!!! I absolutely love that line!!!!
So cool to watch you follow your heart!!! Your art brightens up our home and we are grateful you share your talents with the rest of us!! What fortunate students to be taught be someone who really loves the subject!! Wonderful article!! Thanks you!!!!!