Janet Fons, originally from Detroit, has an extensive professional background in art, as a graphic artist and art director. After graduating from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Fine Art in printmaking, Janet moved west to Colorado where she began painting landscapes.

While working full time, Janet discovered the Art Students League of Denver and began taking classes with Doug Dawson and other instructors. In 2000, Janet decided to take the leap to painting full time.

Currently residing in Missouri, Janet is a juried resident artist at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, MO, a gallery and artists’ studio complex modeled after the Torpedo Factory. Janet divides her time between painting at her Foundry studio and working as a partner in the Gateway Gallery, a co-op of eighteen regional artists in Clayton, MO. Her work has been exhibited and collected nationally.

Artist Statement:

Painting contemporary landscapes opens up new ways for me to interpret nature. My newest collection of work is in oil, featuring landscapes painted in a contemporary-expressionist style.

I take liberties with the particular scene I am painting. My work starts as a real place I've visited but I take the freedom to alter it. My goal is to draw the viewer in with a combination of color, composition and texture. I want the viewer to imagine they've been there. Always looking for ways to create distance with paint, I use streams or creeks winding back into the distance to create an illusion of space and depth.