Early in life I began my journey with art and by the time I reached my teenage years I was already well into my path in art. Studying art in high school with devotion, taking art history trips to Europe and New York City and teaching art classes to young children. In fact it was at the back of the high school art room where Brandon and I first met, he was skipping class to work on a piece of art during my art period. Nothing could have changed my art journey path, it was who I was. The rest is history, preferably art history.
Teaching art came naturally and eventually led to the pursuit of University degrees, where I dedicated myself to becoming an arts educator. Co-founding an arts based school for young children to encourage arts appreciation in early childhood was a highlight during these years, as well as establishing a school wide art classroom for elementary student’s in an arts impoverished neighbourhood. This was a niche where I excelled and allowed me to nurture creativity in young children of all ages. Over the course of several decades I was able to share my love for art, teaching thousands of children.
Why I create
The language of paint is my preferred form of communication. I haven’t found the words that can communicate in depth the same way as I do with paint, that is why I make paintings. Paint has no limitations for me, it offers simplicity in my life and it’s a way of being within the quiet. Painting is my way of being in this world. Expressing myself through paint is who I am.
The Moment That Changed Everything
There was one life changing moment in my life, when I woke up one morning sick. Then the unthinkable happened, I never got better. I couldn’t use a computer, I couldn’t write with a pen and I couldn’t paint. I did nothing for months at a time other than rest in quiet. I didn’t know if I would get better although I remained positive but after six months I knew that my life may never go back to the way it once was. I spent years housebound unable to leave my home. Around two years in, I began to use some modified art materials. And in time I put my mind toward making a series of paintings using small wood panels with acryla gouache. I could only manage abstract compositions using colour as my subject due to limited mobility and restrictions on my time. After several years of living with chronic illness, I knew that I had to make a lifestyle change from urban living if I was to have any life at all. Looking for quiet and simplicity we moved to the country where I spend quiet moments in the natural world and make paintings from my experiences. A simple life, where I can simply be.
What drives me
Looking for simplicity and quiet was the motivation behind making an extreme lifestyle change. Moving to Trent Hills in the rural countryside offered me the exact simplicity and quiet that I was looking for, then came time for being. My paintings began to guide me on this journey, offering a way to genuinely be in this world. The more time I spent in the natural world the more it revealed to me that I needed to express through paint. I have several art projects which I am working on that are in various stages all inspired from my surroundings.
My story in life and art is one of perseverance, integrity and rooted in being genuine. When I became dreadfully sick people connected with my story. They genuinely wanted to see me succeed, secretly rooting for me out there somewhere on the sidelines. Life had become solitary and I needed a means of communication that I could manage with my own boundaries. I returned to instagram after a hiatus of several years, and began to establish my email list of art collectors, patrons and artists. Since then I continued to build my email list, sending out previews to my list as a way to offer my respect for the years of support. In 2025, I established my newsletter Words & Paint which I send out with each new season, highlighting both my life and art.
Gratefully I have developed many relationships with my art collectors who have been continually adding paintings over the past decade. One of my collectors installed one of my paintings to be the first thing she sees when she wakes up every morning. When I posted at series of ten small acryla gouache paintings on birch panel, I was intrigued by how many people connected with paintings, as I had worked through pain, severe restrictions and fatigue. My intention for painting them was to make myself stronger, and for that my work had to be completely changed into a form of abstract painting. Although I paint for myself, when someone relates to a painting and wants to buy it, that is a wonderful thing. With hundreds of paintings hanging in homes of art collectors I am truly grateful that my paintings have the ability to connect with others.
This past decade of time in my life I have been identifying influences of other woman artists such as Joan Eardley, Georgia O’Keeffe and Emily Carr. Including the poetry of Emily Dickinson which has been a great influence for my new body of work. Working with focus and discipline at both building my art practice and on process I began to clearly express my vision through paintings with simplicity. Exploring through paint my relationship with the natural world and sojourn into the quiet through simple quiet musings. In my paintings, the landscape represents a simple life, quiet stillness and a moment in time. Paintings from the quiet within the landscape.
Always persevering, I kept painting when able. Today I am on the cusp of my first solo show and also very excited to share my most recent body of work with my collectors as they have seen my work evolve, know my story and have supported me through many difficult years in my life. There is always scarcity with my paintings as I only paint several finished pieces in a year, which I sell from my studio. My lifestyle doesn’t allow me travel long distances to attend openings. In fact I only participate in a select few juried exhibitions each year. Although it takes me a much longer time to finish a painting than others, all that matters in life is painting.
In my life at the present time, each day is a new beginning of possibility found within the quiet of the landscape. Every day is a new day where I am simply present in my moments. Living simply provides me with daily offerings which always inform my paintings. My studio is comfortably nestled into the loft of an 1860’s Victorian gothic farmhouse overlooking my surroundings. I live my days immersed in the quiet rhythms of nature and the beauty found within moments of presence. My husband Brandon Steen also an artist and our English bull terriers Dolores and Paddy live just outside the quaint little village of Warkworth in Trent Hills, Ontario.
Jane Holden 