The historic Hi Ute Ranch stands in a pristine Summer evening landscape in Jan Perkins' oil painting, "Hi Ute." A stream and pond reflect sky and clouds in the foreground, the mountains shadowed and dusky in the background. The sky is a pale apricot of giant sunset thunderclouds. Rolling green meadows flank the ranch and outbuildings. With no signs of roads or development visible in the composition, the painting could be set in the past of future, a timeless iconic sentinel greeting residents and visitors as they drive into Summit County.
Jan Perkins' paintings are inspired by the landscape that surrounds her. "Horses, cows, sheep, old farms, barns, ranches, and western rural landscapes are some of my favorite subjects," she writes. "It's the land that inspires me, the open spaces, the quiet, and the beauty that I experience in my everyday life. When I am out on the land, around animals, I am immediately restored to peace, to wholeness, to an indescribable calm. For me these experiences are nothing less than sacred. "
Jan Perkins graduated with a degree in illustration from Utah State University. She has worked as a fashion and magazine illustrator before turning to painting full time. Working in oils, she prefers to layer her paint using a palette knife, with some brush work to create richly textured work. Her paintings have exhibited in Oil Painters of America Western Regional Show, the American Plains Artist’s Show, the 16th Annual American Impressionist Society National Exhibition at Trailsides Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, the 46th Annual Mountain Oyster Club Contemporary Art Show and Sale in Tucson, AZ, the American Academy of Equine Art Spring Exhibition, and the Cheyenne Frontier Days Western Art Show. Her work as also shown in numerous local exhibitions, including the Park City Kimball Arts Festival , and the Springville Museum of Art, Spring Salon.
