Artist repaints love after loss

JANET Page (61) packed away her paintbrushes after ‘View of the Beachfront’ disappeared while travelling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg, and ‘Testimony’ was stolen from her Hillcrest home in 1998.

“It was heartbreaking and devastating, and I really hope they appreciate them. This, and because I moved around so much at the time, made me stop painting.”

Her passion was re-ignited when she was asked to paint a banner for her church’s dance group. “The feedback I received was so positive, I decided to paint a lion for the church, and my dream was restored.”

A validation of her talent came when Janet was approached by the Oyster Box in Umhlanga to use one of her paintings on the cover of their coffee-table book.

“I was thrilled they approached, but the painting they wanted to use had been sold. I agreed to paint another one that they would own and could make as many reproductions from as they wished. I painted ‘The View from the Oyster Box’, and it is one of the highlights of my life.”

The painting can be seen downstairs in the hotel in the uMhlanga hotel, and the book, aptly called ‘A Love Story’, was published in 2018.

A chauffeur from the hotel delivered a copy to her work in a gold bag with a red ribbon, which is proudly displayed in her home.
Janet was born in Port Elizabeth and completed a diploma in fine art and majored in painting at the PE Technikon from 1979 to 1981.

The following year, she received a higher national diploma in fine art, and her dissertation was ‘Romanticism in Landscape Painting’. In 1983, she received a diploma in technology in art.

Her thesis was ‘The Life and Works of Dorothy Kay’, which led to her becoming a portrait artist. She was not only the first student to receive this diploma, but the first woman – and at the young age of 22.

She studied under Hillary Graham, Neil Rodger, Alexander Podlushac, Phil Kolbe, Colin MacDonald and Hilton Nel, who all had an influence on her early work, but most of the influence comes from her Oriental roots as a Chinese South African.

A testament to her saleability as an artist: her works are scattered around the world. “I have two paintings in the SA Embassy in Washington and in America, Canada, Belgian and Australia.”

Growing up, she wavered between art and being a vet as she loves animals.

“I was inspired by the beautiful landscape of the Eastern Cape to start painting but stopped for a while when I pursued a career in retail, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”

Soon after moving to Queensburgh in 2006, a local businessman contacted her to paint portraits of his family, and the bug bit when she was asked to paint a portrait of an elderly African couple from a black-and-white photograph.

“It’s amazing to be paid to do something that you love. However, in the beginning, it was more than just making some money on the side but that my portraits can bring closure and healing for people who have lost loved ones.”

She only paints with oils on canvas. “I love the 3D effect oils give to create mood and character in portraits. You can evoke feeling and ambience in landscapes, so it’s much more than just a 2D picture. I love the play of colour, light and shade to evoke feeling.”

She enjoys Casper David Friederich, who was a romantic landscape painter, and likes the impressionists, but is not fond of modern art.

“I love seascapes the most. Portraits are challenging, as you draw from inside of you to create a soul, a person, and a life – it is so much more than a likeness.”

If other artists ever find themselves disillusioned to continue, this is her advice: “You must persevere, and it’s all about how things just happen when the time is right. You also must market your work on various sites and to always hope, as I never dreamed that I would paint a mural in a chapel like at St Mary’s Church in Greyville.

It was a challenge and an artist’s dream, as the painting will live on long after I pass.”