Gallery II- Jane Best

 Jane Best is an artist and photographer who lives in Western North Carolina. She has been drawing and painting for over 50 years and her favorite art subjects have always been homes, buildings, and landscapes. She is also an avid plein air painter and enjoys painting outdoors whenever she gets a chance.

She is probably best known for her detailed pencil renderings of homes and has also been commissioned to draw and paint over 100 clubhouses and fairways for golf resorts and country clubs including Pinehurst Country Club, Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club (FL), Blowing Rock Country Club, Plainfield Country Club (NJ), Teton Pines Country Club (WY), and Denver Country Club (CO). Several of the clubs have also had her provide prints of the artwork for special tournaments including the 91st US Amateur, The Honors Course (TN) and the 1992 US Senior Open, Saucon Valley Country Club (PA).

Jane earned her BA from Limestone College in SC and earned her MA from Appalachian State University. Since her early teens, she has taken numerous classes and workshops with notable artists and teachers studying techniques of drawing, oil painting, pastel painting, and photography. In addition, she has taken several outdoor (plein air) workshops in NC, GA, and VA. and during the recent Covid Pandemic she was able to take online workshops via zoom.

Jane also spent several years working in the family home building business. Being able to experience and understand the actual building process from foundation up had the added benefit of helping her refine her skills in drawing and painting.

Through the years, Jane has participated in numerous events and shows including Blowing Rock Art in the Park (Juried Show) 1980s, Virginia Highlands Festival (1980s), Burke Arts Council, Best of Show-Photography Open (1980s), Northwestern Bank, Solo Show (1980s), Bay Hill Classic Golf Tournament -Guest Artist (1987), 1st Annual Golf

Art Expo, Charleston (1991), 6th Annual Appalachian Mountains Photography Competition (Juried Finalist).

Jane is a member of the Appalachian Pastel Society, Burke Arts Council, Rock School Arts Foundation, Wayside Plein Air Painters of Lake Norman, NC Plein Air Painters, and Piedmont Painters Group.

She not only enjoys drawing , painting , and workshops but also enjoys art museums, art books, and biographies of artists. Some of her favorite artists of the past are Canada's "Group of Seven", Arthur Guptill, Georgia OKeefe, Richard Schmid, Constable, and Edward Hopper.

Artist Statement:

Even though I have been involved in art for many, many years, I still look forward to every day that is a painting day.