Call to Whale - Abstract Water Landscape

As an intuitive artist, I never know how a painting will turn out once completed which is part of the magic of creativity that I adore. The initial layers of this painting began while sitting on location, on an art retreat, in a forest in the south coast of NSW, Australia. I created experimentally and build layer after layer of acrylic and spray paint. I printed with various leaves from the forest floor, a busy time of the creative process until I sat quietly on the earth and painted Eucalypt trees. Building layer, adding to this paintings overall depth.

The painting then sat and looked at me and I looked at it for many months until one day we spoke again and I added the energy of water and space onto this canvas. I began to paint the colours I associated with these elements and the feeling of being within a body of water. I felt the power of strength and kindness as I created and embedded these feelings through my choice of colour and composition.

One day my son read me a poem he’d written about whales. I asked whether I could put it into my artwork, which he agreed. I wrote his poem onto my canvas as one of the finishing touches to this mixed media artwork.

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Janice is an emerging abstract Sydney artist living in Malabar, Sydney. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Janice takes inspiration from nature, mostly from the beauty of the Australian and African natural world.

Janice paints intuitively which results in the organic expression of her imagination . She chooses elements from nature, a memory from her childhood or a love for a specific palette as inspiration for each artwork and threads her feelings through every paintings.

Janice was awarded 'Honourable Mention' in the 2024 Ten Moir Gallery Abstract Art Prize. She was selected finalist at Revival Art Gallery 2025 as well as finalist for the 2023 and 2024 Hunter's Hill Art Prize. She was also been selected as ‘Best of the Exhibition’ for the 2021 International Woman’s Day Art Prize.

Janice has exhibited in Australia and Internationally since 2020.

Janice is not new to creativity. “Over the past 25 years I've explored the world as a chef, yoga teacher, natural therapist and preschool educator and have seen how each of these have influenced my voice as an artist. My strongest creative influence are my late grandmother, Sima Eliovson, an accomplished horticulturalist, author and artist, and my father who both surrounded me with a rich visual library from an early age.”