My name is Janette Newman, painting, quilting, horses  and teaching are all part of our daily lives out here in Gulgong.  I started teaching in 1994, when I had a room full of ladies and the teacher didn't turn up. This has opened up a new world for me.

During my learning I was lucky enough to study with Jackie Benson, Gillien Wright, Annie James, Donna Gilberston, Janice McCurrie, Chris Cort, Laraine Palmer, and my idol Jan Shaw, as well as many other teachers. 

I love to teach at conventions and also partake in the other teachers lessons because there is always something to learn.  Another lady I was priviledged to take a lesson with was Karen Parsens who was teaching one of her first lessons in Genisis.  I love art and can't get enough of it and love new things.

I don't believe our learning ever stops, if it does I believe we become very dull.  I have been studying with Keith Norris and he was proud of me lately because I won the Mid Western Council section of the Waste to Art competition for my painted fridge door.

I was minded as a small child by my Grandparents and to keep me busy my Poppy used to give me a pencil and paper and show me how to draw.  I love him for it and I always will - he was probably only trying to keep me quiet but I do remember the lessons so well and his lessons come back to me each time I take up pencil and paper.

My other Grandfather was a second hand furniture dealer and I used to sit for hours with him and with a fine paint brush and gloss paint we would paint squiggles and commas on pump covers to decorate them so he could sell them.

I am a teacher of Beginners and Intermediate,  if you want to use my patterns, any of them, for whatever reason, I ask you, please acknowledge me as the artist, if you wish to teach any of my patterns please ask.   I take great pride in people using my designs and I feel honoured and flattered that you would want to do so, so I hope you love painting them as much as I did when I designed them.

I won first prizes at the Bellingen Show, I judged the Bellingen show for a few years, and when I moved here I won first prize at the Mudgee Show for my crackle finishes, and recently 1st prizes for my acrylic and watercolour paintings in the Gulgong Show, I made it to the Finals in the first Gallipoli Art Prize, and also I made it to the Finals in the Equine Art Prize, Toowoomba last year.

I became Mudgee's Winner of the Seniors Art Prize two years in a row, and have many other prizes to my name as well.

I love animals, florals, people, landscapes and birds. 

I love faux finishes, we paint on fabric and make quilts out of our painted pieces of material.  

 I attended Dubbo TAFE College did life Drawing and I had a wonderful time. 

I have had a lot of sickness (chronic fatigue) and some major accidents in my life and painting has helped me through these tough times.

I am a member of the Friends Through Folk Art, FDAA,  Tamworth, DFAQ, Mountains and Rivers, and belong to the Gulgong Arts Council and the Mudgee Arts Council, I was one of the original Deco Art helping artists, and I was one of the early Matisse Consultants from 2002.  I use Matisse Paints and I feel priviledged to be part of the Folk and Decorative Community.

I teach in Mudgee, and Gulgong, and I teach at conventions and run workshops every now and then in Gulgong.

I can be contacted at hopetounpark@bigpond.com