Jan Porterfield

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Jan Porterfield was born and raised in Kansas. She moved to Anchorage in 1988 where she lives with her husband Jeff Friedman and their son. She began taking watercolor classes from Diane Gill in 1993 and became a serious watercolorist in 2000. Throughout the past five years painting has helped her focus on beauty, joy and fun.

Artist statement:

I have always loved the look and feel of watercolor. When I started painting, I could almost never make the watercolor do what I wanted. Now I can usually create the images I have in my mind; but I still love the inability to totally control the paint and water. Sometimes a problem becomes the best part of a painting. I am fascinated by shape and color. One of my favorite paintings is of tulips and little giraffes. The shapes of the giraffes necks and tulips stems mimic each other. I love the graceful look of them together. This painting also makes me laugh and engages my imagination. I would love to see little giraffes playing among tulips—so I created that world for myself. I like to paint flowers because of the amazing shapes created by the blossoms and leaves and the negative spaces made by them against the background. I find painting joyful, totally engrossing and fun.