Janine Shideler

I already did what most people do. I was a model, a dancer, computer technician, a lawyer's secretary, I even got married, raised kids, built a house and traveled a few countries. Then I learned that if you get stressed out is because you accept the stress as part of your life. One of my daughters used to tell me, “don’t sweat the petty things,” I used to stress so much that sometimes I forgot to breathe, so I made myself sick!
At this point in my life I ‘m a gentle Soul...I see things and people from a different point of view for first time...I see the “angel” on a child or on an elderly person reflected in the face. I see the love reflected on a soldier when he's looking into desolation... Somebody told me that only the love ones could see that, that’s not true, you just have to look deeper. I mean don’t just look at the lines on the face or the personality of your subject, look at the motive power that moves that person… I often find it to be love. I don’t expect for you to understand me, maybe I don’t know how to explain myself but I paint for the glory of God… I see it as a gift, so I am grateful. I feel something coming from my subject, even on the photo it shows through, then I am ready to do their portrait. We all have that angel, just look for it, that’s how I feel.
I began painting about 10 years ago. At that time I was helping a friend move. For first time I saw a painting she had of two little girls and I was stunned. Out of the blue I told her, “I give anything to paint like that” she said, “Forget it, that painting was done by an 80 year old lady that doesn’t paint anymore.”
To make a long story short, she introduced me to the sweetest lady I’ve ever met, I asked her to teach me to paint, she did, and after a few weeks of lessons she told me to take all the college classes I could from all the art teachers I could. This was back in 1996. Of course I registered that same semester and never stop taking classes. My favorite art subject was always children faces. I have done different styles and painted different subjects but I always came back to children. I experimented with many materials and took lots of sculpting classes, it seems that you never get enough of art.
People asked me why don’t I paint angels, well, to me angels come in all sort of packages but never in winged forms. I remember once watching a child running after a white furry puppy, and as the puppy zig zagged on the sidewalk it ran right between the legs of an elderly lady that was just about to step on to the street. The lady stumbled back but didn’t fall. This stopped her from stepping in front of a bus that was turning and stopping right in front of her, at that very moment, possibly saving the lady’s life. Now, to me that child and his doggy were angels in disguise. No feathers here.
I have also painted some landscapes from my imagination and I swear I’ve been there in many occasions, in my relaxing times, of course… when I am too tired to do something else…
I figure that if you have a piece of art and you don’t feel like staring at it is not worth the money.

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