Jane was born in Highgate, London in 1977 into a family environment where the visual arts were a profoundly influential presence. With a talented painter for a mother and a highly successful fashion photographer father, she was surrounded by visual imagery and the language of creative art from birth. She was born in London but her early years were spent with her mother in Saint Ives, Cornwall returning to London at the age of 3.
Jane came to Kent in 1987 and went to secondary school in Tunbridge Wells. Music, drama and art were her major preoccupations. Leaving school at 18 she returned to Cornwall to enrol at the Falmouth College of Arts followed by Hastings College of Arts where she completed her HND in Fine Art and Painting. Jane is very influenced by the work of her photographer father John Swannell and has often used his photographs to make her own paintings. She has a fascination with fairytales and is influenced by dark and gothic art. She has exhibited her work many times over the years including being part of a collaborative of artists who ran various different galleries in Tunbridge Wells. Her highlight was getting an exhibition in Highgate, North London in 2016 .
Jane now works in a primary school in Tunbridge Wells, she runs art workshops for children and takes on various different art assignments.
Often intense and powerful, Jane's art commands your attention. Her portraits hold their own and can have a disturbing and intriguing impact. Faces and portraiture fascinate her……..Faces, she says, tell a story!