User:Colbeckart

Jan Colbeck - Pastel Painter

My interest in art began at my Grandfather's knee, a keen watercolourist, he would illustrate the logs written by my Grandmother on their journeys through the waterways of England, during the winter months he would use these references to produce full paintings. As a youngster living just south of London I would 'hitch' a train ride up to Waterloo and spend my Sunday afternoons in the London galleries, especially the Tate, studying the works of Van Gogh, Kandinski, Dali and Picasso amongst others.

On leaving school, I had the opportunity to attend art classes at Kingston Art College whilst studying Hotel and Catering this gave me a basic grounding in painting and drawing. Though I was successful in supplementing my meagre student income by selling watercolours of local scenes and wild crazy abstracts, in oil or gouache reflecting life as I saw it in the hustle of the 'swinging 60's I realised that it was not possible to make a living from Art. Well the way I wanted to make pictures anyway.

My early years are peppered with memories of moving both as a child and a young married mother with a family, the furthest north being St Andrews, Scotland and all points south to Tripoli, Libya however in 1976 I finally managed to put down my roots in Holmfirth. Art took a back seat whilst on the move and my children were growing up but by the late 80's, inspired by the Pennine landscape I had the opportunity to return to my love of art and joined Huddersfield Art Society.

After abandoning oils due to an allergic reaction to the solvents I concentrated on watercolour landscapes of our beautiful countryside, however I was often disappointed and frustrated by the lack of depth I could create with watercolour and really longed to return to oils.

In 1990 I 'discovered' soft pastel after an inspiring demonstration by the late Cumbrian soft pastellist Christopher Asshton -Stones, he became my mentor and encouraged me to study the medium in greater depth. The next few years saw me attending courses and demonstrations by some of the greatest pastellists of our time including an exciting visit to the School of Soft Pastel at St Quentin, Northern France. I have been especially inspired by Huddersfield artist, David Blackburn, after visiting his exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery showing such huge compelling dominant paintings, illustrating how, as a medium, soft pastel is so incredibly powerful and versatile.

For me, soft pastel is the most exciting and adventurous medium as it enables me to capture the images and feelings in textural living colour without having to wait for drying times.

I use pastel on a wide variety of surfaces such as fine papers, home made surfaces, and specialised pastel board through to glass paper. However I haven't deserted watercolour, and do like to experiment with anything I can get my hands on. I cannot confine myself either to one subject as so many things can inspire me from vast landscapes vistas to still life, animal portraits or just a single bloom in the garden.

I feel that my art education is continuous - enriched by courses and demonstrations, reading and observation and by painting or drawing most days.

My work is in collections all over the UK and Europe plus Canada and Australia. As a qualified tutor, I teach and demonstrate art, mainly soft pastel, and I am delighted to note that many of students are now successfully selling their own work.