Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Little.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a small creator and artist from Atlanta, GA. Born and raised. As soon as I was able to hold a pencil, I started to draw. I would constantly draw until about 12th grade, when I took a break from art for several years. There was so much pressure as a young person to do something practical, something that can support you and your family. I come from very humble beginnings so making sure I chose something consistent was a pressure that I put on myself. However, my dad is a creative as well, and he has always told me to choose something that I love. I tried to take both his advice and pressures from other external factors and go into video game design in college, mixing practical and creative elements.
The combo of undiagnosed ADHD, a teacher with questionable teaching skills, and having a naturally creative brain all screwed my ability to get through the semester, and I changed my major to animation, hoping I could learn 3D animation and rigging for video games. Eventually I switched again to illustration and, despite leaning towards fine arts the last year of my college career, I stuck with that major and focused my skills on oil painting.
But before we get there, I went through many transitions in my art medium and art style. There were many failures but also many successes. Many projects I was proud to show off to friends and classmates, and occasionally family, but many that I found embarrassingly bad. I was always someone who drew with pencil (or graphite), but I began to learn acrylic and digital painting initially. While digital painting is such an excellent tool, I found myself drawn to traditional means of making art.
My first oil painting class was brutal. The professor was someone I couldn’t quite understand when it came to his direction, and I swore it off entirely until I signed up for my second painting class. I asked my advisor and the professor for that class if I could use watercolor instead, a medium I still love dearly. He said no to watercolor and so I apprehensively attended his class. I connected with that professor unlike the initial oil painting professor, and everything finally clicked for me. To this day I am grateful for his instruction and encouragement. Not overly positive, but not too pessimistic. He knew I barely had any practice with the medium, and encouraged me, but also didn’t go too easy on me, and by the end of the semester I was almost proud of my work, but not quite. Not until my last semester, when I finally started creating a series I really cared about regarding my relationship at the time. My first oil painting I was proud of. By the last semester I felt well equipped to create larger works, those works being about my experience with religion and how evangelical Christianity traumatized me as a young person. I poured my heart out onto the canvas in hopes that I could evoke some sort of emotion in other people.
After graduation, my health began to decline due to Long Covid and severe gut issues (like Crohn’s and Celiac disease) and I didn’t, and still don’t, feel as strong as I used to. I went back to where I felt most comfortable, and created watercolor paintings whenever I could. I am currently working on a series regarding chronic health issues, and am applying to exhibitions whenever I can, as well as applying to grad school for studio art. I will never say that I have it figured out, and I don’t know if I made the right decision regarding going to school for Illustration. But we can never know what’s right and what’s wrong. We can’t know which decisions will impact the future. So we pick something and stick to it and see where it goes. I hope I can be proud of myself regardless.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As I stated in my previous and long-winded response, it has not been a smooth or easy road. There were obstacles every step of the way. Mental, financial, physical. But that’s life, as agitating as that is, anything worth doing is not going to come easy.
I was worried about money every step, I would say I still am! With the rise of AI, our gifts and grueling hard work as artists are under threat. We are even less interesting to corporations due to this new, cheap labor available to them. We are less appreciated than ever to the masses, and I think it is so important that we stick together and commune with each other right now.
I believe in astrology, and as a Capricorn I am ruled by the planet Saturn. Saturn rewards discipline. It rewards those who continue to do what’s hard, and stick with something for the long haul. It’s said that Capricorns come into themselves slowly over time, and I can absolutely attest to that fact. I think as long as I stay true to myself, my reward is coming.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a traditional (and sometimes digital) artist, focused on oil paint, watercolor, and ink wash. I am known for depicting the human form, the most interesting thing to me. I love the body– its curves and its ability to move the way it does. It’s one of the most beautiful things, and capturing it in a way that makes me proud is a great feeling. I also use the human body as a way to evoke our emotions, whether that be loss, heartache, pain, or joy. As much as I love working from the comfort of my desk, capturing the human form in my larger works makes me the most proud, and with a studio, I hope to create larger works in the near future.
What does success mean to you?
I don’t want to quantify success. I am someone with chronic health issues, and I deal with flare up’s, mainly with fatigue and gut issues. Some days I consider success to be getting out of bed and cooking myself a meal. Some days it’s finishing a painting or commission that I am proud of. Some days I run all of my errands and still have energy at the end of the day (a rare occasion). I try not to put pressure on myself. They say pressure creates diamonds, but as someone with ADHD, pressure only creates anxiety. And that pressure never stops. It can be a cycle of continuous guilt for not being able to get things done. I now focus on meditation, healing my vagus nerve, and making myself a hot cup of tea. Success is getting out of bed. Success is remembering to love your body and brain, no matter what.
Pricing:
- Small original works [$150+]
- Medium original works [$300+]
- Large original works [$700+]
- XL original works [$2,700+]
Contact Info:
- Website: https://janelittleart.carrd.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeincreations/
