I have always loved to draw, but when I first saw stoneware pottery, I fell in love.  As my ceramic career progressed I went from throwing pots and creating functional vessels to hand-building sculptural pieces.  It was a great life, travelling to the American Craft Council Exhibits in Baltimore and then filling orders from my home studio.  Eventually, after more than 30 years, the difficult handwork and smokey raku and pit firings took a physical toll and I knew it was time to retire.  

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The decision to retire was difficult, but I had begun to draw again, having discovered that I could still make realistic two-dimensional art, even after all those years.  So I attended a few workshops in botanical art and learned how to work with watercolors, and continue working and learning. I am fortunate to live on five acres next to a large forest so I walk in the woods nearly every day with my English Shepherd, Frank. Some of my recent work is inspired by that forest and especially by the magnificent old growth stumps still evident in a forest which has been harvested over and over around them. Those giant stumps remain as a reminder of all that has been lost and all that continues to be lost to future generations. I hope that my art reflects my concern for the environment and all of us creatures who depend on it.

 

I am a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the local chapter, Pacific Northwest Botanical Artists, in the Seattle area as well as membershhip in the Seattle chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America and the local chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.  My work is represented by Bainbridge Arts & Crafts Gallery on Bainbridge Island.  

 

The work on this website is available for purchase unless it is marked sold.  All the images are available as archival prints and as 5 x 7 cards.  Contact me, Janurd@gmail.com or visit to my Etsy page: www.etsy.com/JanHurdArt.