Jan Shaw King

About the Artist

Jan Shaw King, of Sebastian, Florida—recently from Orlando, by way of Los Angeles, upstate New York, and originally New Jersey—is a well-recognized, multiple award-winning professional American Impressionist. A sought-after commissioned artist and watercolor and acrylic workshop instructor, she has shown in galleries and juried art exhibitions across the country.

As a naturalist and en plein air painter, Jan’s work embodies her love of Western landscapes, seascapes, lighthouses, nature’s beauty, and endangered species. Her paintings are rich with warm earth tones and light pastels, capturing patterns of light and natural shapes. With her loose impressionistic style, she is known for painterly skies, atmospheric perspective, and fluid, lively brushstrokes.

Jan paints scenes of serenity that capture a moment in time, as if the viewer is immersed in the environment or encountering marine life and wildlife in real time. Her lifelong passion for painting began in childhood, sketching the natural world at her grandmother’s side. An accomplished oil painter, her grandmother taught her to see nature’s color palette in shadows, reflections, shapes, and tonal values—the foundations of art.

Jan majored in Fine Art in college, specializing in illustration, graphic design, business management, and marketing, and continued to paint throughout her life. As a fine artist and children’s book author-illustrator, she was encouraged by her editors to illustrate in watercolor and was mentored by Eloise Wilken, the legendary children’s book illustrator for Golden Books and Random House. She studied under master watercolor painters and became an award-winning watercolorist and acrylic impressionist. She also worked professionally as a creative design consultant, producer, writer, and director in the entertainment industry.

Jan is passionate about painting the rich textures and vibrant colors of the National Parks’ Western landscapes to promote conservation. She entered Falls at Half Dome: Yosemite National Park in the first National Arts for the Parks competition in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and View From Mather Point, Grand Canyon South Rim for juried consideration in the American Watercolor Society’s 2017 National Exhibition. As a cancer survivor, she draws inspiration from the lighthouse as her symbol of hope, strength, and courage. She also published Life Lines: Verses for Reflection and Recovery, featuring her original watercolors.

In addition to exhibiting her art, Jan is writing and illustrating children’s books and inspirational verses in watercolor, as well as a series on endangered species in acrylic. Her current mission is to paint endangered species to bring awareness to their rehabilitation and recovery and to promote safe environments and habitats. Her watercolor seascapes of pounding surf, sand dunes, stately lighthouses, sea turtles, manatees, and colorful still lifes are being showcased at the Space Coast Art Festival.

“As an artist, painting is not only what I do, it is who I am.” – Jan Shaw King