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Janette Boskett
Interview with the artist
Which is your favourite art gallery and why?
My favourite gallery is the Portal Gallery in London. They are the world’s leading specialists in ‘idiosyncratic painting’ and are famous for painstakingly executed contemporary paintings that are sometimes surreal, have a touch of magic realism and occasional flashes of humour – all qualities that I love and admire.
I also greatly like the Albemarle Gallery at 49 Albemarle Street, London who feature among others the work of Gordon Mitchell, Simon Gales and the duo Elena and Michel Gran.
What is your favourite media and why?
I love to work with oil paints. Infinitely subtle variations of colour may be obtained and the paint remains workable for ages. The whole process of oil painting also smells fantastic!
How long does it usually take you to complete an artwork?
This is quite a difficult question: I seldom have the luxury of creating a painting in one single sweep of several days together. Because of the ‘day job’ the art work can be on-going in the studio for four weeks or even longer in the summer months. The various pre-painting tasks have to be slotted in as and when – I usually make the timber frames for my own wooden stretchers and then cover them with canvas (linen for preference). The next step is applying several coats of primer. Each of these things may be done in small chunks of free time not long enough for actually painting. I suppose an average length of time would be four weeks.
Where do you work, do you have a studio?
I am fortunate enough to have a really fantastic studio at the rear of our house. We converted it from the original dairy for the house and it was a very cold room lined throughout with hexagonal Victorian white glazed tiles and open at the eaves to keep it cool. It had wonderful marble shelving set into cast iron supports at worktop height and higher up were more shelves and brackets made of beautiful pitch pine. We have stripped and refitted these, but we swapped the marble etc for floorboarding at a local reclamation yard. We have retained one tiled wall to remember what it was like, and we have installed a water supply and central heating!
What item could you not do without?
This may sound strange but I find cotton buds really indispensable! They are the best piece of equipment for removing small areas of surplus paint – and they are really cheap and disposable. I also like plastic plates from the ‘pound’ shop to use as palettes - particularly the oval ones as these are nearest to the traditional 'palette' shape (even if they do not have a thumb hole!!)
When did you first start?
I have always loved art. One of my earliest memories, as a pre-school child, was the surprise expressed by my parents at a drawing I had done that was in perspective (I can’t remember the subject matter). Art was always my favourite subject at school but after 'O' levels family circumstances at the time meant that I had to leave school and get a job. There was no possibility of further study at that time but I always hoped that I would be able to, one day.
When my younger daughter was doing her GCSEs her school, Skegness Grammar School, decided to address a dip in their numbers by letting adults join certain classes. I was the first in line to join the two year 'A' level Art course in due course obtaining a grade 'A' pass. Next I joined the Foundation Art Course at Boston College.
Finally I obtained my Fine Art degree from York University in June 2000 and I have been painting whenever possible since then.
Did a particular person or event spark your interest in art?
When I did my fine art degree as a mature student (1997 – 2000) the head of the art faculty was Clive Head, now well known for his fantastic photorealist work. I found him to be inspirational and jaw-droppingly knowledgeable, but never patronising to his students. I met him before I went to University and I decided there and then that I wanted to study art properly, preferably wherever he was teaching!
What media would you like to try out?
I very much admire and, one day, would like to attempt loose confident watercolours that speak volumes with a single sweep of the brush. I would also like to do work in soft pastels - they always look so enticing in art shops.
Have you ever inspired somebody to become an artist?
I am not sure about this, but many of our guests come and look at my studio and go away resolving to start/resume painting, so I might possibly have done so!
What do you find most difficult?
Because my painting time is always limited, once I have an idea for a painting I can’t wait to start it and I find it hard to discipline myself to plan the whole thing properly in advance. It really is essential, especially for the larger ones, for me to do this and if I don’t, I run into lots of problems later which take up time and energy to sort out! This is partly why I try to complete a detail drawing, particularly of a proposed landscape - it really helps me to focus on composition and tonal balance.
Do you display your own art at home?
I certainly do! I regard our guest house as my own personal gallery and my paintings are in most of the rooms. I do not have price tags on each piece of work but there is a price list in the guests' sitting room, along with some information relating to each individual work. In addition anyone interested is most welcome to see my studio and what I am currently working on.
Who is your own favourite artist?
It is impossible to pick a single artist but among my favourites are Juan Sanchez-Cotan (Spanish 17th Century) Luis Melendez (Spanish 18th Century) Rene Magritte (Belgian 20th Century). Contemporary artists that I admire include Simon Gales, Ian McAllister, Nick Cudworth, Gordon K. Mitchell and, last but not least, a long time favourite, Beryl Cook!
What is the best thing somebody could say about your art?
I would be more than happy to hear that somebody found my art really interesting, or that it raised a smile through a shared sense of humour, or that it was thought provoking.
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