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Written by Camryn Collier

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What does the word paradise mean to you? For many of us, it conjures a place or feeling we’ve never known or experienced –a yearning for a perfection that’s unreachable. For others, paradise is crystalline beaches, flourishing tropical gardens, and sunny days spent strolling alongside worldly wonders. 

For Janet Gillam Geismar, her personal paradise is in the works, and it's a lot closer than we’d imagine.

I trekked my way up 52 North one icy, frigid February morning. It was so cold and wet that ice hung to the top of trees. A small wonder, I thought, peering around my steering wheel at the shining icicles clinging only to the highest branches. How can it be so significantly colder only a couple of feet above my head? 

The trees along the highway, however, didn’t compare to the sight of Sauratown Mountain off in the distance from Pinnacle, NC.  The old mountain greeted me with a sleepy wave under its snowy blanket as I pulled into the driveway of Crooked Creek Farm. I have family living right under the mountain, so Sauratown Mountain is an old friend of mine. I’d never seen him quite as he appeared at Crooked Creek that morning, though.

Built in 1910, the farmhouse is typical of many old houses up in the Tobacco Country of Northern North Carolina. A charming white house with green roofing, there’s a hand painted sign with a colorful chicken that welcomes you home. 

When I got out of my car, chickens clucked in the cold air by the barn. I turned on my camera and shot some photos. Janet, my interviewee, said hello from a side entrance under the porch. A young copper pup (I later learned was Autumn) wagged her tail at Janet’s feet. Even though I was here to meet Janet, her greeting startled me. I was so busy taking in the frosty view of the mountain and chickens that I never heard her open the door. 

We greeted each other, and as soon as I stepped into the old renovated house, I was wrapped up in her story.

Janet joined the Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, Inc. (AAWS) in 2022 after a quick Google search. Since joining, she’s been one of the organization's most dedicated exhibitors. Usually, she enters art into every single show in the Masonic Center and Milton Rhode Center for the Arts. She was also recently juried into Elemental Forces at Salem College. In total, she's entered 28 pieces into various shows within a year and a half. 

“The themes force me to do new things,” she said. “As an artist, when someone lets you know they like something, you can get stuck with blinders on. That ends up being the only thing that you paint. The exhibition themes let you get out there, use your imagination, and explore your own ideas.” 

Janet made her way to AAWS after living in Greensboro, North Carolina for some time. Originally from Michigan, specifically the "UP" or Upper Peninsula, Janet has three sisters. Growing up, she never felt particularly artistic or creative. She studied business in college and worked corporate jobs over the years. 

“My mother did crafts sometimes, and I dabbled, but I never had any formal art education.” 

Similar to stories we’ve featured before, Janet started painting after receiving a gift certificate for a watercolor painting class. Though she enjoyed the class, it was to the point and literal with no exploration of the craft. However, Janet liked the medium enough that she decided to take another class with a different teacher.

“I took a class with Carol Moates in Greensboro. She’s the one who was an inspiration for me to get out of the paint box so to speak,” Janet said. “She taught me that it’s just paint. It’s just paper. It’s just a canvas. Who cares? It doesn’t matter. And yeah, I have plenty of pieces that ended up in the trash can,” Janet said with a smile.

Early in our conversation, she led me around the old farmhouse. There are many, many rooms all decorated charmingly. In one room we passed, an old cat watched us from a white comforter. Later, we walked up a flight of old, wooden steps, and entered her studio. It’s a bright room with many windows and canvases full of acrylic stacked around the floor; many of which I recognized from prior AAWS exhibitions. The Sounds of Music in Art, Entering the Twilight Zone, Anything Goes, When We Were Kids, and Winter Wonderland all flashed before my eyes.

Janet made the move from watercolor to acrylic early in her painting career, she explained while we looked at her collection of paint tubes. Acrylic is where she has the most fun because the medium is more forgiving than watercolor. If you don’t like it you can just wipe it off with a palette knife, she said.

“I also like the texture and the canvases too,” Janet said. “You can also use various brushes, but most of all, palette knives. You can’t get the texture and feel of the actual paint from watercolor.” 

For most paintings, Janet already has an idea before she sits down and begins. She’ll start with a very minor sketch with essentially no detail. There might be shapes for placement, she said, but Janet quickly goes in with paint and a brush. 

“If a scene is in my head, it’s only kind of there,” she said. “It changes as I paint. It’s more about the process itself. That’s the adventure. How it comes out is a fun surprise –or not,” she laughed. 

When I asked her if she needed a specific set-up or frame of mind to paint, she shook her head. Not particularly, she relayed. Things just happen, and if there’s a mistake it’s no problem. 

“Sometimes texture from a painting that went wrong is nice,” Janet said. “It’s accidental but it becomes part of the next painting.” 

One of Janet’s favorite pieces she’s ever done is a portrait of a young girl from the World War II Era. While exploring the internet, Janet read the little girl's story and was inspired. The piece is in cold wax, a medium she only sometimes utilizes. 

“The portrait drew me in,” Janet said. “She has a haunting look about her. She was a survivor from Siberia on one of the potato work farms. Her father was killed in front of her and her mother and brother signed a ten-year paper to work on this farm. Of course, a lot of people died.” 

The interest in World War II girl was obvious; Janet’s father flew American transport planes during the war to help on the home front.

“I usually don’t paint from that time,” Janet remarked with quizzical, but accepting eyes as we looked at the painting. The way she looks at her own paintings was interesting to me –there’s no judgement there. Merely, curious head tilts and eyes. It's as if she’s recalling how she created that specific effect and wondering how she achieved something so great. I wouldn’t call it humbleness, more like curious excitement and fascinated pride. Almost like she’s saying internally; “I can’t believe I created this. But actually, yes I can and it’s great!” 

Typically, Janet’s art is abstract realism. Her themes mostly feature farm animals: cows, chickens, eagles, horses, and dogs. Often, she paints people too, including her grandchildren.

“Living here is a huge inspiration for me,” Janet said. “I have a goat, I have a sheep, and they’re both rescue animals. Off and on I’ve had between two and six rescue animals.” 

When I asked her where this love for the simplicity of the rural lifestyle, came from, she wasn’t quite sure.

“My Great Grandmother had a farm and I always loved going up there. My cousins also had a dairy farm. Plus, I’ve always liked the sort of rural tranquility.” 

Later in the day I made her traverse out into the cold air and show me her land (Yes, I made her. Sorry, Janet). I wanted to see the barn and meet the animals. I wanted just a couple more minutes of exploration. How could you not in a place like this? There’s a new view at every angle, and I wanted it all.

As we walked outside, young Autumn trotted ahead of us with her copper coat dampening in the humidity. We walked into the barn. There, I met the inspiration for much of her art: her rescue chickens, one sheep, and one goat. Her animals did not like me –too city girl perhaps? The goat and sheep wouldn't even get close enough for my camera to focus. Autumn’s presence didn’t help either.

After leaving the barn, we walked up a hill and over a metal bridge (of a sort) to an old tobacco barn. Janet has renovated the barn to become a gathering place. Most recently, she used it for a paint party with her friends. 

“You can create something with color, shape, form, design, lines, color changes, imagination, all of these things are wrapped up into one,” Janet said about paintings. “From squeezing the paint out onto the pallet, and wondering what colors I want to use next, and stepping back and thinking ‘Oh that looks so cool.'” 

If you’ve read along with these Artist Spotlights, you’ll know that everyone’s artistic story shares a lesson. How can it not? Art is often personal, and when people are sharing their life stories with us, there’s always going to be a lesson there. 

For Janet, I am most struck by her easy acceptance of herself. There was never -seemingly- an internal struggle when we were talking about her journey. If I had more time with her, I could easily hear her saying: "It is what it is. I enjoy what I enjoy. I paint what I paint. If mistakes happen, so be it. I am happy where I am. I’ve earned where I am, and I’m excited to be here on top of this hill overlooking the mountains in the distance."

I confess, I’m not sure if this deep acceptance of herself is a recent development for Janet or not. I know that, personally, I am nowhere near that type of confidence within myself and my craft. Perhaps that’s why I admired her so much. 

“I don’t have any huge desires or goals,” Janet said when I asked her about her ambitions with art in the future. “I just want to keep painting. If I sell a painting a month, I’m thrilled because then I get to go buy more paint.”

Sometimes, paradise is all about being happy right where you are, even if the journey isn't quite complete yet.