Our Artist in Residence

All art is used here with Janae's permission.

All of my kids like to draw, and--unlike me--they're all pretty good at it. Janae, though, has made a study of painting and drawing over the past couple of years. I've mentioned before that when the schools closed due to Covid in March 2020, Janae bought a sketch book and started spending hours every day drawing Hamilton characters. I thought she was amazing at drawing clothes.

Eventually she branched out, drawing characters from other stories. She studied anatomy online and started getting more detail into her characters' faces.

Still, her favorite scenes to draw and paint are from musicals.

When we moved to our current house, Janae asked if she could paint her walls, and since they had all just been sloppily painted with a drab grey, I agreed.

Over the past 8 months or so, she has created a tribute to musicals, which is still a work in progress on her wall.

She recently finished painting a scene from the Broadway version of Moulin Rouge, stretching across the wall just under her window. I was looking at it yesterday while putting away laundry, and I was just amazed at what Janae has accomplished with her drawing and painting.

A month or so ago, Janae also gave me a beautiful gift--a series of nature pictures she had painted for me. My bedroom is in the basement, and I've mentioned several times how much I miss my old room where I could look out the window and see our front garden. Janae said these pictures were for my wall, so I could see beautiful scenery even though I'm in the basement.

She said there are more to come, with a total of 15 already sketched. I've started putting them up, and it makes such a difference--not just because I can see beautiful nature scenes, but because Janae thought to do this for me.

Art adds so much to life, and I am very grateful to have a thoughtful, creative daughter who brings so much beauty into our home.