About Janet

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#BBBBBB" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Black" >Horse Art and More-Janet Carmichael Paintings</FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial Black" ><B>   </B></FONT><B>  |    </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Horse Art and MoreJanet Carmichael Paint"><U><B> Home</B></U></A><B>  </B></div> <div> <B>About Janet</B>   |   <A HREF="master_page_of_paintings_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gallery"><U><B>Gallery</B></U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Horsy Tees and Gifts"><U><B>Horsy Tees and Gifts</B></U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Custom Art"><U><B>Custom Art</B></U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Benefits to You"><U><B>Benefits to You</B></U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering /Contact Info"><U><B>Ordering /Contact Info</B></U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B> <META HTTP-EQUIV="imagetoolbar" CONTENT="no">  </B></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="4889bc00.jpg" border=0 width="155" height="192" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B> <script language=JavaScript>  </script>  </B></div> <div> <B> <META HTTP-EQUIV="imagetoolbar" CONTENT="no">  </B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> About Janet</div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="652" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2055 WIDTH="640"><div> <B>Of her passions for horses, art and painting, Janet Carmichael says:</B></div> <bR> <div> "I have been a horsy person all my life. I think that's how it works with horses and girls who grow up to be horse women; it's bred in the bone. I've owned a few horses, loved many, ridden lots, some more successfully than others. I've mucked out countless stalls, lugged endless bales of hay, groomed horses kind and skittish, been inspired and enchanted by them, sometimes to the point of tears. </div> <bR> <div> I've laughed at them and been thrilled by them and, as life goes on, cried over a few. I've just simply loved watching them on the farm where I spent most of my time; watching them interact, play, have halter fights and assert their postion in the herd at the water trough. </div> <bR> <div> I've always wanted to bring something different to my equestrian art than what I'd seen elsewhere; not just paint horse portraits; to bring the essence of them to the work. That's what I want to offer people; an insight into my passion for horses that may reflect theirs; to offer something unique and interesting, strong and rich, to make it, at times, extraordinary. That's what I want to do with my art-get to the heart of the matter, represent literally and figuratively."</div> <bR> <div> Of her other subject matters, she says:</div> <bR> <div> "My intention with the other subject matters for my oils: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="House Portraits"><U>House Portraits</U></A></FONT>, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Still Life"><U>Still Life</U></A></FONT>, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Seascapes"><U>Seascapes</U></A></FONT>, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Portraits Interiors"><U>Portraits and Interiors</U></A></FONT><A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Portraits Interiors"><U>,</U></A> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Outdoors"><U>Outdoors</U></A> </FONT>and <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Custom Art"><U>Commissions</U></A></FONT> <A NAME="commissions"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>, which are handled in a more straight-forward way, is to bring some extra life to these subjects through composition, colour and brush-stroke.</div> <bR> <div> My scenic painting work is always challenging, fun and wonderfully creative. I love painting in film because there are so many like-minded people working together. I bring what I've learned there to my custom mural work."  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Janet's motivation for her work: Why this stuff? Why this way? What's up with those saddles?</B></div> <bR> <div> "With my paintings and drawings, to begin with, I want to make art of subjects that I consider beautiful and interesting and sometimes unusual, to add originality and interest. Then I want to present it in a unique way,  using composition, brush-stroke and colour to give them my vision. </div> <bR> <div> For instance, on one level, I want to present the subject of <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Horses"><U><B>Horses</B></U></A></FONT> in a non-sentimental way that I still haven't seen before. No stylised rearing stallions for me. (Unless it's a commission...!)</div> <bR> <div> Horses and their equipment are thematically very strong for me with my having been involved with horses forever. They are infused with metaphors for our lives and I've always wanted to bring this thesis to life. Symbolically, horses represent basic aspects of our humanity, however different we are as species and have, for instance, long represented virility and power of men, in the swagger portraits prior to the twentieth century.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="56d96eb0.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="235" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Anthony Van  Dyke</div> <bR> <div> With my tack and clothing works, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Horse Imagery"><U><B>Horse Imagery</B></U></A></FONT>, I want to use equestrian objects to convey aspects of life that are universal, and so often sexual, as they are traditionally perceived to be, especially by men, I think, on a primal level. This thesis dictated my composition and viewpoint of these items of tack and togs, to make them infused with juicy substance beyond their function. </div> <bR> <div> Tack and togs represent another aspect of life: control and domination. I remember crying when I watched the Horse Whisperer, Monty Roberts, deal intelligently with a damaged horse and wondered at my visceral reaction, which I've since discovered is not unusual, especially among women, which he mentions in his book. Upon reflection, I realised that women and horses share some realities of life; we come from a similar place; we know each other; we recognise each other. They are prey animals, ever conscious of safety; they are often abused by the horse industry, forced to live unnaturally and contrary to their instincts and too easily disposed of, undervalued for the creatures they are: generally misunderstood. This thesis intrigues me still.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Finally, with these works, especially, I have often been told that before knowing, people think my stuff is done by a man because they are strong and graphic. That I find interesting, as well, all things considered."  </FONT><A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Horse Imagery"><U><B>Samples</B></U></A> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF6600" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > <A NAME="samples_of_horse_imagery_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>And now those essential art credentials!</B></div> <bR> <div> Janet Carmichael is an award-winning oil painter who works on commissions and exhibition pieces in her home studio near Toronto.  As well as a scenic artist in film, she paints residential murals for private clients. She has created art all of her life, with an aim to make it unique and fresh. Her work has been described as vivid, colourful, strong, expressive and original.</div> <bR> <div> In 1994, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Art at the renown Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. Among Janet's studio advisors were such artistic luminaries as Garry Kennedy, Susan Wood, Leya Evelyn, Gerald Ferguson and Ed Porter. </div> <bR> <div> It was there that she won a Third Prize in the Liquitex International Student Art Award in painting for six submitted works; the only student at the college to do so in any discipline.</div> <bR> <div> She augmented her studio work at NSCAD with summer programmes in Europe and England. She attended the English Art History program at University of Cambridge in the U.K. and the summer programmes of figure painting and drawing at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College of London, London and in Paris and Vienna, through the Fine Art Department of Wilfrid Laurier University, where her studio instructor was Michal Manson.</div> <bR> <div> Since graduating, she has participated in solo and group exhibitions in public and commercial spaces across the country and creates commission pieces of all subject matters. Her scenic painting in film has developed into mural painting in the off season.</div> <bR> <div> Janet has collectors of her originals and commissions in the U.S.A., Canada, and the U.K. Her work is purchased by private and corporate collectors and by interior designers.</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>