Janet McKenna
Maroon Dam artist, Janet McKenna, draws her inspiration from “the wonderful surroundings” in which she lives and the activities she enjoys. Mainly self-taught, she enjoys studying a painting and “trying to figure out exactly how the artist constructed the work”.
She is inspired by the colours and message in Frank Hodgkinson’s pieces and the composition of early Australian artists, Leonard Long and Hans Heyson.
As a teenager, Janet dabbled in visual arts and was torn between “spending time inside painting and being outside adventuring”. As a working adult, she thought she had “reached the wonderful combination of exploring the world and taking photographs” to meet her dual desires. “I was inspired by the photographs of Galen Rowell, but stuggled to give fully of myself for the perfect picture,” she said.
Janet’s first painting as an adult took nine months from start to finish. “I set up in a corner of a room and would paint while my baby was asleep,” she recalls. “At some time during my pregnancy, I thought it would be a good idea to begin painting after the birth, since I would not be going to work for some time. In my naivety, I had thought I would have a lot of spare time!”
Recently Janet has found herself studying watercolours, in particular the works of local artist Helen Bartley and expects this medium will provide her next challenge - a challenge which she hopes to meet while cycling the Fassifern for inspiration.