By Beth Williams
Jane Castelan Buccola, Off on a Tangent, pastel, 15 x 20.
The trajectory of Jane Castelan Buccola’s life was forever changed by a casual invitation from her father during her college years. “My dad asked me if I’d like to attend an evening art class with him, and during the first session, I discovered that I had a knack for portraiture,” she says. “It was such a surprise,” but one she embraced, eventually switching her major from French to art at UC Irvine.
Jane Castelan Buccola, Mystic, pastel, 12 x 16.
Ironically, though, she never took a single painting class while there. “I didn’t like the style that was coming out of the painting classes in the late ’60s,” she admits. “It was all very hard lines, very geometric and abstract, and I was very representational.”
Jane Castelan Buccola, Peaceful Meadow, pastel, 16 x 20.
Since that time, Castelan Buccola’s artistic career has spanned more than 40 years in a variety of media: oil, pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic, batik, and, notably, pastel. In 2007, she turned her attention to painting full-time; in 2010, the Silverton, OR, resident received representation at her hometown’s Lunaria Gallery. A Signature Member of the Northwest Pastel Society, and a member of the Pastel Artists of Oregon and Silverton Art Association, she paints vibrant portraits and landscapes using her favorite medium on textured surfaces she prepares herself.
Jane Castelan Buccola, Grid 5, pastel, 12 x 9.
As for the non-objective art that Castelan Buccola eschewed in the past? Seven years ago, she became intrigued by its “unrestrained freedom” and hasn’t looked back. “The desire to paint in that style seeped into my consciousness and finally took hold, and I’m following my intuition,” she says.
Jane Castelan Buccola, Interconnected, pastel, 15 x 20.
Castelan Buccola finds that pastel is the perfect medium for that exploration. “Its granular, textural quality and intense, iridescent color are very freeing,” the artist says. “While I haven’t lost my representational ability, it doesn’t excite me the way abstraction does. I don’t think I’ve explored it enough yet and can’t wait to see where the experimentation with color, texture, and composition take me.”
representation
Lunaria Gallery, Silverton, OR; www.janecastelanbuccola.com.
This article is part of The Art of Pastel portfolio.