Utah Watercolor Society

Jana Winters Parkin grew up playing in her father’s studio. When she expressed an interest, he patiently guided her through her first few paintings. Holding the brush together, they dipped it in water and paint, then watched in awe as it dispersed a beautiful blend of color across a pristine sheet of textured paper. This early childhood experience taught her a love of watercolor that has lasted throughout her life. Growing up, Jana often accompanied her father as he taught both painting and creativity workshops nationwide, from California and Hawaii to Florida. This early exposure to people and places, visual expression and creative thinking, has been invaluable.

In college, she spent summers away, studying first at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, then Cambridge University in England, and painting en plein air in Monterey, California. She earned a BFA in Art from the University of Utah.  Within a few years she launched her own graphic design studio in Los Angeles, which was successful and garnered awards.  A turning point came when a Santa Cruz fragrance company commissioned a series of more than 30 original watercolors to showcase its fragrance lines.

Jana realized that she was enjoying the painting opportunities that came with her design projects more than she enjoyed the design work itself. She began to devote most of her creative time and energy to painting. Her watercolors have since become both a source and an expression of pure joy.

Jana and her family moved to Utah in 2004. Jana’s work now combines the warmth and energy of Southern California with the deep contrasts of the Utah landscape—wildness and serenity, open spaces and tightly packed forests, red-rock deserts and cool mountain lakes. Her work contains vibrant color, contemplative washes, and exuberant brushstrokes as well as gestural figures. Her inspiration is found both in her travels and in the beauty, light and color of the everyday.  Each painting is a celebration of life, energy and creation.