A Unique View – the Paintings of Jane E. Pappe

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

There is something about Jane Pappe’s paintings that make the viewer want to see more. If you see one of her colorful landscapes while browsing through social media, you simply have to stop and take a second, and a third look. 

“That scene looks familiar,” you might think when gazing at an oil painting done by Jane of a roadside field or a barn or a view of Newfound Lake. The paintings pull you in due to the color and Jane’s unique vision of each area she chooses to interpret in paint.

A resident of the Newfound Lake region, Jane spends her summers in her area home, painting, painting and painting for hours the various scenes she loves. Some might wonder why Jane, originally from the Boston area, would choose to spend her precious summer months in a rural, rather isolated home. “I love it here,” Jane says with a laugh, explaining the woods and the quiet are highly enjoyable and conducive for her work.

Jane also relishes the chances to drive around the Lakes Region and all over New Hampshire, where she often stops and takes photos of scenes she sees. It could be a field, a barn, a cottage (she adores the little summer cottages seen all over the area, tucked among a stand of pine trees or by a lake or pond), and an old wooden boat on the lake or an exterior of a country store in a quiet village. Things others might pass by and not look at twice cause Jane to stop and take a photo to add to the many pictures she keeps as references for her oil paintings.

“I drive around, take some photos, and take more photos as I go,” Jane explains. “In the future, I might see one of those images as a painting.”

Jane started painting about 30 years ago and says her mother always valued creativity and encouraged Jane and her sisters to make things when they were growing up. Working in Boston as a secretary and with a family, Jane might have been busy, but she never abandoned that urge to paint. 

When visiting friends in the village of Hill, New Hampshire, Jane and her husband fell in love with the area and decided to look for a house or property to build a summer home. The idea was to spend summers in the Newfound Lake/Bristol area and take their motor home to Texas in the winters. They found land in Alexandria, New Hampshire and built a summer home there.

“We liked the idea of being in the woods,” Jane says. “And we met great people; our neighbors helped us find people to build our house here.”

Living in the area, Jane inevitably was drawn to the places we now see in her paintings. “I like lake houses, and as I painted scenes and cottages and posted them on Facebook, others saw the paintings. Now and then, a photographer would send me a photo of a scene and give me permission to use it for a painting.”

Painting, Jane discovered, is a great creative outlet for her. “I go around Newfound Lake and take photos and use then as a reference for paintings I do later at home.” Sometimes, Jane paints on site, but when the weather is not cooperating or the scene is too close to a busy road, for example, she takes photos and paints a scene later indoors.

A specialty for Jane is her love of lake houses and when she posts them on a Newfound group page, they are eagerly and positively received. 

When Jane was driving around the Newfound Lake area and headed a bit north, she discovered the Rumney Village Store and was captivated by the rural charm of the exterior of the shop. She asked the owner for permission to do a painting of the shop and gifted it to the owner when it was completed. The owner asked her to do more and she now sells Jane’s paintings in the shop. “I just dropped off some paintings at the store,” Jane says. “The paintings are of animals: two bear pictures and a pig and chickens.”

Although Jane is largely self-taught as an artist, she takes art workshops from others and names Carol Marine as an she has studied with and admires. Jane is unafraid to take workshops and always wants to learn new painting skills. She also says she studies You Tube art videos. All these things have increased Jane’s skill as a painter and her vision of the world around her is unique and captivating.

Jane paints every day, and says while she loves to paint outdoors, the ticks have made it a challenge. Always busy, when this interview took place, Jane was working on a painting of two Adirondack chairs and flowers and the lake. 

In her travels, she has captured such unique things as an antique car parade in the Newfound area and there are the views we all recognize from our own travels here, there and all over the area. 

Her favorite subjects these days are cottages, landscapes and animals. 

Generous with her talents, Jane has donated a beautiful painting for the Newfound Lake Association’s raffle, which will be held in September The scene is of red buildings and a river in autumn. It is titled Newfound River and it is a beautiful area landscape. Visit www.newfoundlake.org and go to the Raffle page to view the work and purchase tickets.

There is indeed something about Jane’s paintings that make you want to see more. Her vision of scenes and cottages, flowers and animals evoke a feeling that we have indeed come home to New Hampshire and its most comforting places.

For information and to see more of Jane’s work, visit her Facebook page at Jane E. Pappe. She also posts some of her work on the Newfound Lake Community Facebook page.