Jan Pittman is a Gidgegannup based artist

I started painting in watercolours more than ten years ago, and now paint and draw wildflowers, shells, birds, animals, interesting objects and portraits, in a realistic style. As a former science teacher, and a long-time member of the Wildflower Society of WA, I’ve always been interested in the natural world, and have long admired and been inspired by such botanical artists as Margaret Forrest (wife of Lord Forrest, WA’s first Premier), Ellis Rowan, an intrepid explorer of New Guinea and Australia, and Ferdinand Bauer, who painted his botanical works using a key of some hundreds of colours! I am a member of the Watercolour Society of WA, the Botanical Art Society of Australia, and am a director of AGRA (the Australian Guild of Realist Artists).

I have won awards at many shows and exhibitions, and in recent years was a finalist in the Mortimore Prize for realistic painting and the inaugural Splash Award for Contemporary Watercolour. In recent years I have travelled with members of the Watercolour Society of WA to China, Italy and India, to participate in watercolour exhibitions. My property of 100 acres in Gidgegannup has more than 90 acres of beautiful bushland: Western Australia has more than half of the world’s wildflowers, over 12,ooo varieties and counting, and a botanist friend estimates that there are over 350 different varieties here on my property. I teach regular classes in botanical art, including doing one in Scotland for a friend’s art group during a trip there a few years back. I also enjoy “urban sketching”, and have participated in local weekly life drawing/portrait sessions.