Janelle’s love of art propelled her to earn her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Art and Art Education from Baylor University, which she followed with a career as an elementary school art teacher. After retiring from teaching, she began to exhibit her original acrylic paintings throughout the Southwest at juried art shows and gallery events, and occasionally teaching art workshops. Her work has been honored with Best of Show and First Place awards at multiple shows.

Janelle specializes in landscapes and wildlife scenes, employing vibrant, textured layers of color in an impressionistic almost pointillistic style. Her quest to add heavier texture to her paintings led her to begin glueing small torn pieces of paper to her painted surfaces, creating dramatic mosaics she calls “Paper Paintings.” She uses paper scraps from old letters, sheet music, maps, etc., which she works into her paintings. The result is a complex image that draws one’s attention into the scene where hidden layers of meaning can be discovered.