Doesn’t everyone have a “happy place” online? Usually these are sites devoted to beautiful images. Ones that make us forget about our daily grind or the political debates or the state of the economy… Just a little escape into a world where everything is beautiful and peaceful – and no one is running around the house with a non-washable red crayon….Oh wait – that last part only applies to me, but you know what I mean.

For me, this site is Ontario artist, Janet Woodward-Hill’s Janet Hill Studio: The Evening Picture. Materialistic Monday is not all about clothes and accessories. It’s about wanting something that you don’t actually need. And I can honestly say that I want every painting on this website.

I found Janet’s lovely work at one of my other happy places, The Paris Apartment. These little jewels that she creates DAILY (I’m not kidding – one each day) are usually on small canvases (6 x 6 give or take a few inches), and pretty affordable for original paintings. That is – if you can snag one from her Etsy shop before someone else beats you to it. They don’t last long.

As the daughter of an interior decorator, I was immediately drawn to the interior scenes and use of textiles. So of course, the first thing I did send the link to my mother. I also e-mailed Janet to see if she sold her work to stores since these paintings would be perfect for my mother’s shop.

As it turns out, The Evening Picture will soon be sold as limited edition prints on canvas. They will be in her Etsy shop (which should last all of five seconds) and also in retail stores throughout North America, Australia, and Europe. (If you are a retailer or designer and want to carry her line of prints on canvas, email her at janethill111@yahoo.ca and she’ll add you to her list.)

I told Janet that I planned to feature her on my blog, and asked if she’d mind answering a few questions about her work and process. Here is what she so graciously sent back:

BPOC: When did you decide to start “The Evening Painting” site? What prompted it? Friends, clients? Just a desire to have a virtual portfolio for your miniature work?

JH: I started “The Evening Picture” site when I decided I wanted to shut down my retail store. For six years I owned a store called The Great Dame in Stratford, Ontario. It specialized in European bath and beauty products, but I also displayed my paintings on the wall. After a few years, I realized that it was the paintings that were drawing a lot of customers to the store and it no longer made sense to keep up the high overhead of owning a bricks and mortar shop. I had heard of other artists selling online, more specifically on Ebay, so I decided to start selling my ‘oil sketch’ paintings online and that lead to the blog and Etsy. It was a leap of faith I suppose, but I enjoy taking risks.

BPOC: Where do you get your inspiration? Do you paint strictly from your imagination or do you sometimes actually set up still lifes? Or both?

JH: I get my inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. Magazines are a big component, as are other blogs, movies (I have a portable DVD player in my studio and will often have movies playing in the background), and my imagination. Often it’s an odd combination of all of the above that leads to a painting. I never work from still lifes as I’m too lazy to go about setting it all up.

BPOC: I am particularly drawn to the details you include in your work – especially the textiles. Have you ever done any work in textile design – or interior design?

JH: I don’t really have an interior design background, unless you count the three days that I worked in the Schumaker fabric library which I found a little hellish. I graduated with a fine art degree and never really knew what to do with it. I considered going to design school but never felt that I would be a particularly great designer as I tend to get annoyed easily. All my friends and family told me that I was a natural painter, so somehow I combined my love for interiors and painting and found a way to make a living off of it. Every day I wake up and can’t believe that I am able to do this.

BPOC: Obvious question: how do you find the time? Your small paintings are like little jewels – it’s hard to imagine that you don’t spend all day on them.

JH: It’s pretty much a full-time job for me, so I try and approach painting as a job. Doesn’t sound too glamorous, does it? After I walk my dog in the morning, I try to discipline myself and head into my studio for most of the late morning and afternoon. Money is also a pretty good motivator I hate to admit. If I want that pretty, new hot pink clutch, I have to buckle down and paint. My husband is quite jealous that I’m able to do this for a career, as he thinks I don’t “technically” work. In many ways I have to agree with him when I reflect back on previous jobs – particularly office jobs that I had that required an hour of highway commuting every day.

Thank you Janet for taking the time to exchange e-mails! And more exciting news – I will now have a little piece of my happy place in my own house (which I guess is supposed to be my real happy place…) I told a close friend about my near obsession with these paintings, and she purchased one for me as a belated birthday gift (very belated since my birthday is in April – but I’m not asking questions!)

Need a quiet moment in a place where colorful shoes are perfectly lined up and Spring flowers never wilt? Visit The Evening Picture. I do this every day and it’s better than…dare I say it?…CAKE (and a lot less fattening).

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