Janet Lee Butler
www.janetleebutler.com
I began painting in 1996, when an art gallery opened on the ground floor of the condo I was living in in central Italy, and the director had the excellent idea of offering art workshops. After six months of drawing and basic oil painting techniques, I moved on to live model drawing for two years. I did, however, have to teach myself watercolor painting, as the art teachers I met in Perugia were all oil painters. I began buying every book on watercolor technique I could, Jeanne Dobie, Don Andrews, Stan Smith, Charles Reid, and others. I began exhibiting with various art groups in 1997, and caught the eye of an Italian art critic, Luciano Lepri, who invited me to participate in various exhibitions he put together, in Sienna, Rome, and various cities in the central Umbrian region. While in Italy, I worked with Minerva Gallery in Perugia, also affiliated with Mr. Lepri.
Since returning to the states in 2005, I have exhibited at A Different Day Gallery in Albany, CA, the East Bay Open Studios, and various shows at the Frank Bette Center, of which I am a current member. I attend the Tuesday night live-model drawing sessions at Frank Bette, and the Saturday morning live-model drawing on the Berkeley Campus. I recently joined the AWA (2009), and the November, 2009, will be my first exhbition with the group.
Blond
Medium: Watercolor
Size: 9 1/2" x 9"