Sold  Sold     Janet Flinn The Artist’s passion for painting Australian wildlife grew from watching the birds attracted to her garden of native plants and local bush-land reserves, leading to many research trips throughout the continent. Sketches created in the field, supporting photographs and sometimes research in museums, all contribute to the finished art. The Artist hopes that the viewer’s engagement with her art will increase awareness on the importance of preserving habitat for our unique wildlife. Trained as an Art Teacher (Diploma of Education, Graduate Diploma of Art Education) the Artist now uses her teaching skills as an ‘Artist in Residence’. Demonstrating and taking art work-shops are also ways Janet is able promote the importance of our distinctive flora and fauna. Exploring different techniques and mediums in watercolour, acrylic and oil paint, pastel and mixed media, Janet’s aim is to capture the essential character of her subject. Janet depicts her subjects in a realistic manner, placing them on a background where the colours and shapes work to suggest, rather than tightly define, their environment. Evoking a necessary amount of realism, but combining it with a subtle abstraction, takes the work beyond the simply descriptive. Contrasts create excitement; opaque paint is contrasted against transparent watercolour and accurate rendering against loose and spontaneous brushwork. Compositions are carefully planned with a particular interest in the use of space and asymmetry. The Artist has held twelve solo exhibitions at galleries including Waverley City Gallery and exhibited with numerous group exhibitions and galleries in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland, including with The Pastel Society, Waverley Arts Society and The Wildlife Art Society of Australasia. Her Original Paintings and Reproduction Prints now hang in many countries, including America, Canada, Japan, England, Belgium, The Netherlands and New Zealand .  Amongst her many awards are “Artist of the Year” for Waverley Arts Society – by Members’ Choice & Public Choice in 2003 and “Artist of the Year” by Public Choice in 2005. Janet has earned numerous Awards at the Wildlife Art Society of Australasia’s Annual Exhibition. She has served on the committees of art societies and maintains an active interest in the art world in general. Feather & Brush: Three Centuries of Australian Bird Art, by Dr. Penny Olsen, published by CSIRO,a comprehensive illustrated history of bird art in Australia, features a selection of Janet’s work. The City of Monash commissioned Janet Flinn to create designs featuring Drawings of local Flora and Fauna, for a series of Interpretive Signs, located at Valley Reserve, Mt Waverley. Her drawings have featured in a number of conservation brochures, including for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne. Other publications include magazines in Australia and USA (including feature articles in “Australian Artist” and “International Artist”), as cards, on calendars, (including for 2011 with 12 images) , as a Wine Label and as Limited Edition Prints in Australia and Europe. Always delighted when such publications raise funds to aid the creatures that inspire her art, Janet actively supports conservation projects, including those of The Bird Observers Club, Birds Australia and the Friends of the Helmeted Honey-eater (Victoria’s bird emblem but sadly endangered).