Jana Botkin – Artist

Jana Botkin grew up in rural Tulare County surrounded by orange groves with a daily view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Except for 4 years in San Diego for college, she has never lived anywhere else, and that is apparent in the subject matter of her highly detailed artwork.

In 1987 Jana named her business CABINART because she began her professional career began with drawing cabins in Mineral King using just pencil.  The detailed accuracy in these renderings is still her trademark style and reflects earlier training in architectural drafting. After several years of working strictly in graphite, Jana moved into colored pencil, learning from seminars, workshops and conferences sponsored by the Colored Pencil Society of America. (stop laughing - it is a fantastic group of artists!) 

Since spring 2006, Jana has been transitioning to oil paint. Through the encouragement of several area artists, Exeter mural painters, and the words of much admired artist and author Jack White, it slowly came to her attention that oil painting would be a good career move, both artistically and professionally.

As any logical person knows, a paintbrush is not a pencil. A pencil has a rigid precise point that goes exactly where it is told to go and does exactly what it is told to do. A paintbrush is a flippy little wet thing full of goo with a mind of its own!  This means that her painting style is different than her drawing style, although one can recognize the signature subject matter: citrus, local landscape, Sequoia National Park, and the historic Mineral King area.

It has been the goal of Cabinart since its beginning to capture the beauty of Tulare County. There are so many subjects: orange blossoms, abundant fresh fruit, oak trees, foothill scenery, the Kaweah River, old cabins, the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

Jana, her husband Michael and their 3 cats live in Three Rivers, which is located in the foothills at the base of Sequoia National Park. She works from a home studio, which is open by appointment.  In addition to drawing and painting, Jana teaches drawing to both children and adults at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.

On March 16, 2008, we interviewed Jana Botkin on our online radio show ‘Champagne Sundays’. To hear the entire, unedited show, click here. To listen to the interview please double click on the play button below.

For more about Jana Botkin and to view her beautiful art work – Click here.