This week’s blog provides a special peek inside the creative mind of volunteer Jane Daniel…

Jane lives in Bideford. She regularly produces artwork and poetry, including work expressing her feelings about growing up as a person of mixed heritage in Devon. Jane has shared two of her paintings below.

A hand-crafted painting, in which a Union Jack flag is overlaid on a background image of a face, looking out directly at the viewer. The person in the picture appears to be wearing a hat, and is pictured from between the bottom of their collarbone at the bottom of the picture and just above the top of their head at the top of the picture.

Diverse Pride by Jane Daniel

 

A strong colourful painting in watercolours. The background of the image cycles through blue, purple, maroon, pink, red, yellow, orange, green and turquoise, in a clockwise direction, with one curved section for each colour specified. In the mid ground is a portrait of a young black woman, with brown eyes, small white circular earrings (studs) and lips, depicted in shades of red and pink. She has curved eyebrows, and is pictured from her collarbone at the bottom of the image to the space above her head at the top of the portrait. In the foreground of the image are 4 shapes, which resemble palm trees, in different colours. These are made from collages of other materials - perhaps cuttings from magazines? The top left hand image is in shades of blue, with a person looking at a line drawing of a grand building with domes and turrets. The top right hand image is in shades of deep red and orange and black. The main image is indistinguishable, but the middle part is an image of roses. The bottom right hand image is in yellows and oranges. The bottom part is made up of an image of corn on the cob. The middle part features a person standing in from of a line of triangular shapes - perhaps trees or buildings? The biggest part of this image is a series of words and phrases written in block capitals. We can read part or all of the phrases: "RESPECT YOUR HISTORY"; "BE BLACK BE PROUD"; "LOVE"; "TEACH YOURSELF". The final image (bottom left) is comprised of an image of a tropical fish amidst seaweed, plants, and a simple green pattern.

Be black be proud by Jane Daniel