“How much do I love drawing and making art? I get mad when I have to give up even an hour or so to make my family dinner! That’s how much.”
Warrington’s Janet Borroccini Schuler makes it crystal clear that she really, really likes her colored pencil time. After one look at her animal portraits, viewers will undoubtedly feel whatever time they take is time well spent. She has the uncanny ability to achieve extreme realism without copying the distorting optical effects that a single-lens camera imposes on images.
Close inspection of the rabbits she has drawn reveals layers of eyelash-fine lines that convey the satin-softness of the animal’s fur. Her German Shepherds — her favorite dog to draw, because she has one — have a coarse, dense coat with slightly wavy fur over softer hair. Schuler prides herself on not only detailing a breed’s distinguishing characteristics, she also strives to capture a likeness of the specific creature she is drawing. Many of her portraits are commissioned as memorials to a beloved family pet. Her method is very personal. She talks with the family or person commissioning the portrait, carefully pores over their reference photos, and investigates about the animal’s personality, asking questions about the funny or touching stories a family has about their pet. She senses a connection to the animal by doing this.
“Somehow, everything they tell me, the anecdotes, all get into the drawing,” she says.
When the family exclaims “you got her eyes, that’s her!,” Schuler feels she has done her job.
“People ask me how I do it, and I really feel their soul and tune into that. I was trained to look, to really look. And that is what I do. I draw what I see,” Schuler says.
When she draws, time falls away, and she enters into a deep zone. Her father was an engineer who pursued art in night classes and helped her learn to see how things appear and how to render their appearance. Schuler pursued an art degree at the renowned Tyler School of Art, and then worked as an art director and illustrator in advertising. Once she began her family, she found colored pencils as a versatile medium that she could excel at. Her portrait of a horse won the People’s Choice Award at the most recent R.E.D. Exhibition hosted by the Arts & Cultural Council.
Of her membership there, she says “the camaraderie of artists reminds me of what I’m here to do,” she says. “Looking at these artists’ work is inspiring!”
Schuler, who has taught art to children, believes everyone can learn to look. She urges people to “Watch one of the million YouTube tutorials on making art, and then get quiet and look. You’ll start to see differently. It’s a process. You have to train your eye.”
She read that a Disney illustrator said, “You’re going to make ten thousand mistakes, so make them and get them out of the way and then enjoy yourself.” Schuler is enjoying herself.
Local Color is a column produced by the Arts & Cultural Council of Bucks County. It appears on the first Thursday of each month.
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