Jane Haigh is celebrating 10 years as a rural artist creating large, expressive canvases featuring local wildlife, livestock and beloved family pets. The artists and B&B-owner is looking forward to a busy season of commissions and to meeting customers at this month\u2019s Food & Gift Fair at the Lincolnshire Showground<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ufeffAs the saying goes, if you want something doing, ask a busy person. Lincoln\u2019s Jane Haigh was certainly busy during our visit, as one expects from someone who both runs a successful rural bed and breakfast\u2026 and then retreats into her studio to create artwork which captures the heart and soul of the British countryside with every stroke of her paintbrush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For over a decade now, Jane has been creating beautiful canvas-based artwork featuring local wildlife and inspired by the Lincolnshire countryside. Canvases of Jane\u2019s work are available, as are fine art gicl\u00e9e prints \u2013 some as open editions, others in limited editions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
More recently, she\u2019s also been producing a range of homewares featuring her work, from china mugs to cushions and lampshades, using British-made materials such as her fabrics. Her work is also featured on a range of greetings cards including a lovely selection for Christmas which always proves popular with those seeking to send a festive greeting from rural Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also in the run up to Christmas, Jane will be busy accepting commissions (starting from around \u00a3300) from folk keen to own a unique painting for their wall featuring a beloved pet, or perhaps their favourite Longwool or Lincoln Red. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019d think that would give her plenty to be getting on with, but Jane will also be busy opening a beautifully \u2013 and authentically rural \u2013 wedding venue adjacent to the B&B\u2026 and her first customer will be a very special one indeed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane enjoyed a rural childhood over the border in Leicestershire, and moved to Lincolnshire at the age of 21. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was always to be found with crayons or pencils in her hand, say her siblings. But a love of animals and being equally gifted with scientific matters as well as art, Jane studied towards a Rural Science & Biology degree in York instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI ended up moving back to Lincolnshire and got drawn into the family business, which was really enjoyable, but not what I\u2019d been planning to do!\u201d says Jane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy parents Malcolm and Jill established a business selling and servicing boats on Lincoln\u2019s Brayford Wharf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout 10 years later we\u2019d outgrown the premises and had the chance to move to the newly-established Burton Waters. The business has been incredibly successful since and my brother Adam has since taken it over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMeanwhile I began to work as a lab technician at Riseholme College, which I really enjoyed, it renewed my love of being in the countryside, surrounded by arable fields and livestock!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane and her husband Alistair were living on a two-acre smallholding in the village of Grange-de-Lings, on a bridleway between the Showground and the College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She soon wanted to share with others the chaos and contentment of a life in the country surrounded by horses, sheep and working farms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happily, they had a stableblock which the couple reckoned would make a lovely rural bed and breakfast. The renovation was a success but there was still something missing on the walls of the B&B\u2019s bedrooms; some original art that would faithfully reflect the provenance of the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking time to rediscover her enjoyment of painting, Jane set to and created canvases for the walls of the business\u2019s bedrooms, and enrolled in a group so she could paint in the company of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, as word got out about Bridleway B&B\u2019s lovely rooms (culminating in her 2023 Tourism Excellence Award and VisitEngland award) and Jane\u2019s first-class Full English breakfasts (which commanded another VisitEngland award), she soon found herself painting at home in between taking care of the bedsheets, bathrooms and breakfasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happily, Alistair was able to turn his hand to creating a dedicated studio \u2013 oriented north for the best natural light \u2013 in which Jane could work, and leave work in progress on the easel\u2026 quite handy as some of Jane\u2019s work is a labour of love measured in weeks, not days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s more, the artist doesn\u2019t do things by half and so whilst some pieces are smaller, many are larger in scale than is typical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane says that this way of working reflects the larger (and larger than life) animals that she paints, with big canvases for her subject\u2019s big personalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI try to work on just one of two pieces at a time but sometimes you do get a little bit of artists\u2019 block, and so it\u2019s nice to be able to switch between pieces and clear your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane is certainly living in the right place for inspiration, and she\u2019s developed some great working relationships with local photographers happy to allow her to take their work and commit it to acrylics, mostly, although Jane does sometimes work in oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A clear photo can provide good inspiration for a busy artist and they\u2019re an invaluable reference when Jane is working on a commission. With a number of local farmers admiring her work and with a love of the countryside, it wasn\u2019t long before Jane was being commissioned to paint local livestock owners\u2019 favourite cattle or sheep as well as horses, dogs and cats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think you\u2019ve got to adore animals, and I genuinely do,\u201d says Jane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo me, a really good painting is about seeing beyond the literal and expressing the character and personality of the subject. For that reason, getting the eyes right is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d describe my work as expressive. It\u2019s important that there\u2019s good technique to ensure a faithful resemblance, and an inherent understanding of the anatomy of the subject, but beyond that every image should convey the individuality and the spirit of the animal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jane\u2019s work, from her paintings of domestic pets and livestock to our native animals \u2013 deer, hares, foxes and owls \u2013 is wildly popular (pun intended) at this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As well as being a busy time for commissions and for the sale of her Christmas cards, she will also be returning to the Showground for the Lincolnshire Food & Gift Fair on Saturday 29th November. Jane usually attends Burghley and the Country Living show, for which she is a CL Artisan… not this year though, as she has a wedding venue to put the finishing touches to. The first wedding to take place at Bridleway B&B will be that of Jane\u2019s daughter Emma, at the end of September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emma has inherited her parents\u2019 sense of entrepreneurialism having opened Jailhouse Frock in Lincoln\u2019s Cornhill, specialising in mid-century fashions. The place specialises in beautiful vintage reproduction clothing, styled for femme fatales and starlets keen to achieve the look of Hollywood\u2019s golden age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about expression!\u201d Jane says. \u201cFrom fashion to art to a love of the countryside, we\u2019re really lucky and as a family we really enjoy reflecting that in whatever we do!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ufeffJane Haigh Country Art was founded by the artist 10 years ago. You can see her at this year\u2019s Food & Gift Fair at the Lincolnshire Showground, 29th\/30th November, or visit her Grange de Lings studio by appointment for good coffee, to browse her range of limited edition prints and homewares, and to discuss a commission. Call 07789 763 203 or see www.janehaighcountryart.co.uk.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n