Jan Elizabeth Jennings
Jan Jennings is finally living a dream buried for years. These two wildly successful, creative men have summed up Jan's life in two phrases.
Jan's early years:
Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. ~ Steve Jobs
Dreams can come true, if you have the courage to pursue them. ~ Walt Disney
Born during the optimistic “baby boomer” years immediately following World War II, the first child of an ex-veteran turned agricultural county agent and an English teacher, Jan was expected to pursue a practical career that would enable her to become self-supporting.
Jan's love of drawing and painting, manifested even before she entered kindergarten, but no one in her world understood the value of art so, like many budding artists, her interests were sidelined by her family. Art was considered an entertaining pastime but not a valid career that one could use to earn a living, so Jan was encouraged to pursue a different path.
Enrolling in college in the 1960s, she didn't find much encouragement there either. Abstraction, not Realism, was admired in the '60s, and the traditional skills Jan wanted to develop were considered passé. Discouraged by the art of the day, she turned to teaching, literature, composition writing, in what she thought was a more rewarding profession. Her family was immensely relieved.
Quiet, bookish, and obedient in her youth, Jan married as a teenager to get out of her small hometown. She was easily steered into teaching as an acceptable career choice because in those days women weren't offered many options. Since she was a woman who had majored in English, the only acceptable professional career she was offered was teaching.
Ironically, vocational guidance tests revealed that her passion for public school teaching was an unimpressive 2%, whereas creative writing, producing artwork, and acting were ranked near the top.
For the next forty years, Jan was in and out of classrooms from middle schools to community colleges and involved in relationships with men who resented her artistic aspirations and just wanted her to clean her projects off the dining room table.
With no support from her family or her culture, she spent many years in a world where her passions were suppressed.
No more!
Today Jan has created her own Shangri -La in a state far from her family.
When she retired in her mid-sixties she began to pursue the dreams she had submerged
and it was like opening the cage of a bird that had never experienced flight. Her talent is off the charts and her portraits will be coveted worldwide because this woman was born to draw.
For those who are privileged to hire Jan for their portraits, they will find a deep sensitive portrait that captures emotions, personality and passions. Unlike other artists who only capture your likeness, this woman can see into your soul and preserve your personality, creating a legacy portrait that will speak from the walls to the next generation.
Click here to commission this late blooming genius before the more patrons discover her and you have to wait in line for a cherished portrait!