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Artist biography

Art and design are the ‘raison d’être’ of British professional artist Jayne Leighton Herd.

The accessible nature of Jayne’s art is in part a result of her creative background. Jayne spent several years working in advertising, graphic design, marketing, branding and events. This provided her not only with a multitude of amazing opportunities to develop her artistic and design skills, but also taught her to value clarity and attention to detail and to communicate honestly and directly.

In tandem with this, Jayne continued to develop her lifelong passion for painting, as well as her interest in interior design, envisaging a day when she would become self-employed and work doing what she loved most. Seven years ago she set this plan in motion.

Taking advantage of her natural flair for colour and instinct for style, Jayne trained and qualified in property styling and interior design, and set-up her own interior styling company. She also undertook a variety of arts courses and training, including being awarded a place on the Farnham University for the Creative Arts’ artist development program where she was mentored for a year by a professional art investor. This time proved a turning point for Jayne as she thoroughly opened her eyes and mind to the belief that she could achieve what she truly desired: to devote herself completely and successfully to her art.

In 2006 Jayne exhibited her paintings in public for the first time and was awed by the enthusiastic response. Since then, her work continuing to evolve, she has fulfilled her aspiration to become a professional artist and dedicates the majority of her time to her art.

Jayne regularly exhibits her work and undertakes commissions from both private and commercial clients. Her paintings feature in private collections in the UK and abroad, including the USA, Spain and France.

When she’s not painting and designing, Jayne loves spending time with her partner; a great evening with friends, laughing and enjoying good food; going for exhilarating walks with her camera in hand; an excellent book she can get lost in; music that makes her skin tingle; dancing until her feet hurt; travelling and discovering new places that captivate her; and finding inspiration wherever she goes.

Artist Statement

If you could see the tapestry of life on which all our lives are woven...
Night-Flyer (Poems at the Poetry Showcase)

The intricate pattern of life inspires much of the original abstract art created by professional artist Jayne Leighton Herd. The various paths we travel, the deliberate and the unintentional changes of direction and, always at the centre, our core of self and our dreams, values and relationships that make us who we are.

Jayne interprets this in stunning, textile-like paintings: detailed, textured patchworks of intense, woven colour, sometimes with layers of sumptuous metallised collage reminiscent of pieced work, which blend into boldly threaded sweeping strokes.

Jayne’s powerful paintings in acrylic, often taken for works in oil, display a certain uniqueness, which sets them apart from the work of contemporaries. Using a rich and vibrant palette, Jayne creates an enticing and dynamic world of colour and texture in a way which is both technically accomplished and highly accessible. Her high impact paintings are vivid experiences that satisfy both sight and touch. Energy, movement and space, bold sweeps and strokes feature in her work, and combined with tempting texture and iridescence, she intends to attract not only the eye, but also to incite a tactile urge.

As an abstract artist, Jayne does not aim to depict reality in her work. She intends that the eye of the beholder should create each painting’s reality, or perhaps their own. So while she influences the idea behind each piece, she never tires of hearing the story that the viewer in front of it describes. Her art has often been influenced by science, such as her galaxy series inspired by outer space, and by nature and environment, offering the viewer an intriguing combination of fascination and sophistication.