Janice Bernard
San Francisco native Jan Bernard received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied Japanese watercolor with Chiura Obata. "My inspiration comes from dreams and a vivid imagination. Abstract artist and teacher Hans Hofmann said that the artist must paint what is real.From the smallest particle in the atom to the largest of heavenly bodies, attraction, energy, and motion are everywhere. In an almost infinite universe, it is hard to paint any thing that is not real somewhere. With this in mind, I start with an abstract and study it and create the pictures I see in the paint. Using this technique, I try to stretch my ability to view things from many different perspectives. We artists are lucky. We can travel and visit many places while never leaving our easels. In my paintings I try to leave enough undefined so that the viewer can discover and become a co-creator."