Thank you for taking the time to visit my website. If you are interested in some background information on my development and work as an artist read on …

I was born and raised in Aberdeenshire in Scotland where my father was an enlightened country dominie. My mother was also a teacher. I was encouraged to observe and learn from the world around me and to express my individuality. From an early age I demonstrated a talent for art and music, and it was with the idealistic ambition to be a painter that, in my late teens, I gave up full-time education in Aberdeen, and went to London to make my own way and to pursue independent studies.

I had set myself an ambitious goal and the road has been arduous. As well as being driven to paint I was also encouraged to develop my other talents as a singer. I lived in London for fifteen years where I worked to support myself to study life drawing, sculpture and the history of art and architecture, and to fund my training as a musician. Music became my main focus, by which time I was in Brighton where I lived for a number of years. I went on to perform professionally as an oratorio soloist and in jazz,

and also qualified as a teacher. For many years I have maintained a small private teaching practice specialising in performance coaching and languages.

I moved with my husband Michael to Weston-super-Mare in 2003, and in 2006 began to paint again. I was soon invited to exhibit my paintings locally, and have since been invited to show work in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Jersey, and most recently in Budapest. Future plans include a one woman show in 2011/12 at Galleria Tondinelli in Rome.

Much of my recent work has been inspired by architecture and has developed into several series of paintings: The Boulevard Series and the Beach Road Series inspired by architecture in Weston-super-Mare, the Jedburgh Series and the Glasgow Obelisk Series. Pheasants, cats, dogs, sheep and most recently cows have also inspired series of paintings.

I now also draw on my training in life drawing to paint portraits on commission, and I continue with in-depth study of the history of art and architecture.

Photography features prominently in the creative process of my paintings and I display some of my photographs on the inspiration page of this website.

Recent paintings and a selection of early work from London and Brighton are displayed on the originals page of this website.

A review by Paul Wynter, founder and managing director of LondonArt, June 2010:

"As one of our newer artists, Jane Cartney joins a fabulous collection of emerging and established painters and sculptors from all over the world. Her art takes its place alongside work that is varied and accomplished, emotional and truthful. Her paintings stood out to me for their bold statements and expressive, bold colours and forms. They do not shy away from their audience and will capture the attention of anyone who views them.

Having exhibited in the UK and abroad, Cartney describes herself as being a colourist expressionist, mixing the palettes and sensibilities of the Fauvist painters with the block forms and distorted shapes of the German Expressionists. Her work retains a joyful spontaneity, an unplanned leap into the imagination. All the possibilities of the world around jump from the canvas and into the mind.

The artist is inspired primarily by architecture and this influence shines through in her first collection for LondonArt. The work contains a windswept, twisting movement, with the buildings appearing to contort like human beings. Cartney herself says that this work is designed to capture the “power, mass and movement and the intangible life-form” of the material world around her. In her hands the buildings of the city become a tribe or a gang, moving as one and plotting their next move. She has been compared to both Van Gogh and Gaudi and her work does feel like it contains the wonder of Gaudi with the edgy paranoia of the Dutch post impressionist.

Within her paintings a subtle psychedelic symmetry can often be found. The cartoon features of the outlines express the cool heart of passion and the pale blues and pinks of her palette show the complexities of the feelings. Her daring use of windswept movements and bold primary colours mean that the work stands out to even the most casual viewer. We are very glad to name her as LondonArt artist of the week and look forward to sharing more of her work with you in the future."