Jan pursued her education in graphic design and marketing. Early on in her professional career, she focused on designing for an upstate department store.  She developed promotional and illustrative works for events ranging from modeling shows to special in-store events all along while developing newspaper campaigns. As a young girl growing up in rural upstate New York, Jan was surrounded by a family of artisans with a variety of artistic talents that spanned from painting to sewing and even woodworking. Being a country girl, she was always surrounded by nature’s landscapes and amazing wild life.

Jan then moved on to pursue a career in graphic arts, marketing and advertising sales for a large nationally known newspaper chain. She worked with local businesses to develop advertising campaigns.  In addition, she worked with the editorial department illustrating for special news features.

In her spare time, Jan developed her artistic background by joining the local art guild.  She entered juried art shows featuring her watercolor paintings and pottery sculptures.

About 12 years ago, Jan discovered an age-old textile art called penny rugs while out antiquing. Her second love next to nature was scouting on weekends for antiques. With that, she developed a traditional folk-art style into her new found love of wool applique. Wanting to use her illustrative talents, she started to design based on realism and nature.  This made her creations more than a stitching project, but more of a piece of art.