I'll confess right off the top, I am not a trained artist, nor have I ever
earned my living as an artist, nor has anyone ever wanted to support me while I dab with brushes on a canvas. I am a professional journalist/author/photographer and from the time I was a kid until right this instant I couldn't and can't even draw a stick figure.
I have four children ( one of whom is artist Linda Woods on notthetate), and when they were little I used to amuse them by painting silly faces on rocks and driftwood and telling stories about the people I was painting. I did paint for pleasure for a few years, sold some, and then as a single mom went to work to support those hungry kids and for me work meant writing --- a daily newspaper column, books, magazine articles,news stories and taking photographs to go with my work. A year ago my daughter Linda gave me a set of acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, and some canvas and said, " Mom, try it again, you used to do good faces..." I did one, wrote a mini short story to describe the character and Linda said, " Great... sell it". I did. Since that first painting a year ago, I have sold close to 100 and I'm never sure if the buyer is buying for the art or the little story! My work is on walls in the United States, Canada, England and France. But best of all, I have met some wonderful people -- both artists and collectors -- and I get great pleasure out of "playing with paint" and finding it makes someone else happy, too. What else do you want to know? I live in Palm Springs, California, USA, I own my home, lease the car, have three grandchildren, love to garden,read, travel, take long walks on the beach, candle light suppers... ( sorry, the comedy writer in me taking over.) I still take lots of photographs,spend too much time on the computer, and am working on a novel. Oops, almost forgot , I do do commission art ( " give me something in red"...) and if you want to know more, please feel free to email me. Thanks for stopping to see the art and learn more about me. --- Jan images ©copyright Jan Curran 2026