Janet Treby

Exciting contemporary wildlife artist, Janet Treby originates and lovingly creates sublimely gorgeous painted compositions hosting a dazzling array of creatures and animals which engender a sense of tranquillity and inner calm when gazing upon them. This is no idle boast as you can see for yourself hereabouts, as your eyes meet with emotionally uplifting and mind-caressing paintings comprising birds, rabbits, horses, deer, butterflies and the odd dog or two, set amid soothingly coloured, yet naturally implied habitat. Treby roams freely between intensely hued visually logged accounts of certain creatures and the tepid and considered hues of other animals at both one and peace with their native environ.

Treby’s particular skillset centres around that of mezzotint and printmaking, courtesy of her foundations previously laid during her formative years spent in higher education, and has since go on to lecture in these areas, so as to pass on her own understanding and knowledge of the subject matters she chooses to dedicate her professional life to capturing the exact likeness of. That higher education we speak of got under way on finishing secondary school – and after setting her heart on a future career as a professional artist at the age of 11 - when Treby began a two-year course at Barnfield College. After obtaining the necessary qualification there, Treby opted to study sculpture and printmaking as core degree level disciplines at the West Surrey College of Art and Design. Latterly she bagged herself post graduate status in print, care of the Slade School of Fine Art.

Treby’s personal journey began many years earlier in a small village in rural Bedfordshire, where she was fortunate to grow up surrounded by – and embracing of – acre upon acre of n natural, unspoilt beauty, visually, emotionally and harmoniously heightened by the presence of countless examples of wildlife. This idyllic upbringing served as the cornerstone for the blossoming of Treby’s continuing fascination with, and passion for, nature in every way, shape and form. This coupled with her discovery of pencils, brushes and paint at an early age, encouraged a young, impressionable Treby to capture what she witnessed around her, which would also encompass other aspects of life, including the mystical and ethereal universe as time went on and her knowledge and skillset grew.

Drawing inspiration out of everything from the human body to the metaphysical, the vast breadth and depth of Treby’s work has always been important to her. Whether of wildlife, the female form, or quite often both, the subject is always majestically spiritual and embellished with nature, giving a constantly transforming and narrative experience to the eye.What marks Treby’s work out from her peers is her perpetually driven curiosity which questions the juxtaposition and pictorial cohabiting - and ultimately and illustratively seeks to pit - reality against fantasy; something of a recurrent theme in Treby’s hallmark work to date. Treby benefits from interests in science and spirituality which she places of equal importance to her art, and indeed elements which prosper and populate within her brand of art. This interconnectedness she strives to create, the emotional connection between all things, can be sensed in between the multiplicity of her technique.

Today Treby has swapped one rural bolthole for another, this time a little less landlocked than her stomping ground in Bedfordshire, as she lives and practises her art in rural Cornwall on England’s South West coastal tip, along with her family and pets, and publishes her work herself. Treby also lectures as mooted above, including stints at her previous college, whilst she’s accumulated a wealth of industry recognition and awards for her unique art, including the 'Elizabeth Greenshield Award' and 'The Lloyds Young Printmaker of the year'. Treby has also enjoyed successes with her one woman show at the Curwen Gallery, as well as having exhibited countless individual pieces and collections at various other British galleries.