Janice Giles: Discover the Pearl

Janice Giles paints and writes between part time work as a counsellor. She hones drawing and painting skills through regular attendance at Waihī’s Life Drawing group and prefers to work direct from life, from life drawing sketches, or from imagination.

“I prefer to paint people, and find nudes timeless and evocative. A depiction of the human form creates the possibility of relationship, or conversation, with a painting. I’m not captured that way by landscapes.”

Looking for the Pearl is part of a series developed from her work with counselling clients who find the courage and honesty to ‘dive deep’ and discover the pearl - which represents gifts gained from difficult life circumstances, or the discovery of a strong core self they had not known before. The painting utilises pastels, acrylic medium and acrylic paint.

Janice sought to capture the freshness and transparency of water-colour in the acrylic diptych: Woman Waiting for a Man to Get His Act Together and Woman Wondering if it’s Worth Waiting. Both paintings are inspired by women clients in complex relationships. In the first painting, the woman considers a piece of sky, representing hopes, dreams and opportunities. In the second painting, the woman picks it up and thinks about her own needs and potential.

 by Pete Morris (2010).

Pete Morris is an occasional painter and an art lover. He has a particular interest in promoting the visual arts in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty