About Me

Isaac: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Jannie: I normally go searching for images on the internet or nature that inspires me or talks to me in any way, then I use the images to create my own stamp on it, changing it to what I want.

Isaac: What influenced your preference for painting?
Jannie: Well my style is very dependent on my mood for the day.
I usually put my headphones on and listen to my music while waiting for the spark to hit and my creative juices to start flowing. Music makes painting so much more intense – it makes you feel the brush with every stroke, using the colour and paint wherever the music and mood takes you over the canvas. It’s absolutely amazing, I live for that moment!

Isaac: How long does the whole process take?
Jannie: That all depends on the oil, the weather and the mood.
I realised that creativity isn’t just a switch you pull. If you work on a piece that you would like to be a happy piece you might just mess it up when you are in a bad mood. I have learnt a very important thing from paining with oils, PATIENCE.
Oils are so much fun every time you get back to add the next layer, it just gets better and better. It can take anything from 2 weeks to 4 months. Every piece is different, every single one… it will let you know when it’s done.

Isaac: How do you normally start your artwork?
Jannie: I start by adding the image in pencil, then adding all the normal colour for the tone and shadows to create all the depth. After that I just let myself go and am open to any colours. I absolutely hate following rules of what’s wrong or right choosing a colour. I feel the colour chooses you, if you accept that, then you are free to be you.

Isaac: Who are your biggest influences in your life?
Jannie: I have to say my all-time favourite artist Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Monet & of course my favourite South African Artist MIES and Lionel Smit. I love the freedom that they have in playing with colours and not always giving you the perfect image, but conveying perfectly the way they see things. That makes it so much more special. Every time I look at their work it makes me want to grab a canvas and start painting.

Isaac: What are the biggest highlights of your career?
Jannie: Last year September 2021, a client from Cape Town messaged me saying he wanted to buy one of my nude pieces and then later that day decided to get me to do another one.
The following 2 weeks I started selling my pieces like hot cakes  a total of 8 painting 2 weeks. This made my year and I felt like an artist and not just a painter anymore.

Isaac: Let’s get more into detail about your Background
Jannie: I started in school doing pencil art most of the time until matric. I always wanted to go and study art after school but unfortunately money was very tight and people told me that that it wouldn’t be a great career choice, as I would struggle to make a living from it. So I decided to go study hairdressing, the only way I could let myself be creative and to create in a completely different way with colours and different art pieces. In 2018 I decide that I would like to start learning how to paint and use colour. Lucas De Witt just gave me so much more than what I expected. I learned so much from him. He took me right back into my art world.

Isaac: What genre do you consider yourself to be?
Jannie: Well I would like to think that I am an impressionist. I love doing every piece using my feeling and my mood to guide me through the whole process.

Isaac: What do you love about painting and what was the reason for picking the images you painted?
Jannie: That is very difficult to say. I love beautiful things in nature and in people. I try to capture the beauty.