Jan Matthews is an artist that resides in the city of Lancashire. Her preferred mediums are watercolor and alcohol ink, and her posted work on Instagram reflects that pretty accurately. She has about 13,500 followers on Instagram, a number that’s definitely not one to scoff at.
The more one scrolls through her paintings, the more it becomes clear why she has such a devoted following. Her art evokes a feeling that most of us seek constantly throughout the day—a sense of peace. With our hustle and bustle-filled lives, it can be hard to stop and smell the roses, and Matthews allows us to do that.
It’s not so much what she paints, but how she paints it. She has a very minimalistic approach, focusing heavily on open space, and therein lies the core of her appeal. Take the below painting, for instance. Titled “Peaceful View”, it stays close to a strictly limited color schema and is highlighted by a sky that modestly displays a solid beige. So understated, and yet also extremely powerful.
Matthews proves that with great skill comes great responsibility. It is not always about what you paint, but also about what you don’t paint, that tells a story—and she’s made that quite clear.
