“Location does change ones inspirations a great deal,” says JKay. “Pine trees won’t be in many of my paintings anymore.” JKay relocated in May of 2014, moving from the Pacific Northwest to the deserts of Arizona in the South East. “Spokane was a wonderful place to live with wonderful people and the arts were truly alive. But I’ve always had the dream of living in the desert. It is lush with vegetation and gorgeous mountains and skies that speak. The wildlife and the cactus entertain me daily. I feel the desert in my very soul,” she said, describing how the textures of the desert allow her to “take a wonderful journey and let my mind flow.”

With her move to Tuscon, JKay now works on her art outdoors on her huge patio with Ramada, especially in the earlier, cooler part of the day until 11:00 a.m. From her patio she observes the birds, and cactus blooms. In a chat I had with the artist, she described the wildlife she sees in her yard, such as Gopher snakes and King snakes as “very lovely creatures. She watches the scorpions, coyotes, deer, owls, hawks and roaming Javelina, a type of wild pig. “Every day is full of wonder. And, there are some VERY interesting bugs here! I found that Sharpie pens attract bees,” she said. “I do grab my Nikon and head out to the edges of the wild. I’ve never been surrounded with so much subject matter…so beautiful everywhere I look. But, then again, beauty is in the eye of the holder. I have an eye for texture. This is why cactus totally appeals to me…and there are so many varieties. Rocks! Love rocks. Rusty things! Love rusty things.”

Helmet Head, Janette “JKay” Borland

Now in Tuscon, in addition to painting on canvas, she paints murals indoors and has also “re-entered the world of clay,” saying that “it is a joy to have the clay center here.”

Same Old Sh*t, Different Day, Janette “JKay” Borland

More humor and insects in her painting Same Old Sh*t, Different Day, for which JKay wrote, “Just another one of my moments … In the work-a-day world on the east coast, we used to say this all the time. “Same old sh*t, different day.” I decided to use it visually and I laughed while I painted it. This is why art is NOT a job to me … 🙂 “

In Walks a Stinker, Janette “JKay” Borland

In her painting titled, In Walks a Stinker, JKay revealed that it “was a great source of fun and yes, the stinker represented someone I knew.”

“Every tavern has one … a loud-mouth Stinker. Ha, ha! But, he’s just part of the scene.”

“I felt a little prankish when I created this piece. Bugs and beetles were my entertainment for humorous art as I incorporated them into human settings… or sometimes into a totally human frustration we could all identify with.”

Over Achievers, JKay Borland