Into the Woods, prints of original art by Jane Bernard

My original trade was as an Architect. Then, when the kids came along, I was determined to be home with them, but you may know how it is… you do get a little bored... Being Australian we spent most of our time outdoors and I became a keen twitcher, and so I bought my husband some binoculars for his birthday! As the kids and I developed a veggie garden, we also grew interested in the bugs. I began painting them.

When we moved to Essex a whole new world of animals and creatures were once again able to be discovered through our gate - as well as a whole new library to identify them! Our back gate opened to Norsey Wood, hence the name was born for a new enterprise. Now that the kids are nearly all at school - nearly...I can venture further into the woods with my binoculars and paints.

When painting birds I use binoculars, not cameras, so all my paintings are from life. Having been an architect, I guess the life drawing aspect of my work is well instilled into me. It requires patience and sometimes many weeks, not to mention lots of bird seed.

The birds are quite stylised as the characteristic of the little tits and robins inspire my work from how they are composed in the image to their bobbing eyes and twitching tails.

With insects, which I collect from my garden, the work is not botanical but a true scale it is still important and the detail much more obvious, usually I need a 000 brush and stronger reading glasses!

I paint with Gauche on watercolour paper. This paint gives a much more opaque quality to the finish, so the colours are vibrant and the finished prints are fun and colourful. The Giclée prints are usually completed on A4 Hahnemühle German Etching paper.

Please enjoy, dream and wander into the woods.
x jane