anis
Whitcomb claims she was born horse crazy! She started drawing
the equine figure before she was five years old and still has
some of her early 'work'--crayons of Trigger and Silver. By the
time she was 12, Janis was painting commission artwork!
Not all of her paintings are horses--instead of babysitting, she painted for a biologist who was a neighbor. This man sold sets of slides to schools all over the world and what he couldn't photograph, he asked Janis to paint. She did paintings of wildlife, dinosaurs, portraits of scientists, etc. For Janis, it was a very good grounding in illustration.
This biologist gave Janis her first set of watercolors and later she went on to oils, pastels, acrylics (and now airbrush!). She lived off her art (and photography) skills for a short while, then she had a child, got divorced, and needing to support herself and her child better, she went to work at Boeing. She spent fifteen years drawing and painting for Boeing: tanks, planes, ships, missile, space stations, whatever they needed.
Janis used to ride a lot. She showed, mostly Arabians and part-Arabs, took some cutting and dressage, broke and worked racehorses and generally rode anything that looked like a horse. She got her commissions mostly by word of mouth and from contact with people at the racetrack and the showgrounds.
Janis has been a member of our hobby for many years and in addition to her stunning portraits, she's painted a large number of model horses! These she's painted in airbrush, just another skill to add to her many talents as an artist!
If you'd like to contact Janis, you may reach her by the email link or snail-mail address below:
Top: Fidl Fadl, Arabian stallion painted in oils
Middle: Redwind, Stakes winner, painted in oils
Bottom: Dutch Treat, bright chestnut Gelderlander gelding customized from the Moody resin, "Utopia," and owned by Janis Whitcomb
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