The art and writing of Jane Sinclair

About Me

My name is Jane Sinclair. I was born in 1954. My parents were part of the early modern art scene in Melbourne and were close friends with John and Sunday Reed, whose house is now The Heide Museum of Modern Art.

My mother, Jean Langley, was a landscape painter. She also did fine line drawings of people, nudes and cats, and was a highly skilled botanical artist, producing two books of Australian wildflowers. My father, John Sinclair, attended the Gallery School in the late 1940’s until he met and befriended Sidney Nolan and began to question the relevance of the traditional painting skills he was learning. He gave up painting to become The Herald’s classical music critic, a job that lasted almost 40 years. My parents shared many values and interests yet their marriage was a disaster from the start.

As a child I drew a lot, which delighted both parents. But by the time I’d grown into a rebellious teenager I’d lost interest in drawing and my main goal in life was to get off with whichever young man was the temporary object of my desire. I certainly didn’t consider becoming an artist of any kind.  At the age of seventeen I escaped the violent turbulence of the family home and ran off to Queensland with my surfer boyfriend.

It was quite a few years before I reconsidered my dismissive attitude towards the arts and decided to try my hand at making ceramic sculptures like my uncle, Robert Langley, who made a very meagre living from selling his clay figures and ceramic pots.  It wasn’t long before I became frustrated with the limitations of clay and considered taking up painting. Some of my parents friends were quite successful artists by then and all were self-taught as far as I knew, so it didn’t occur to me to get any formal training.  As a child I’d stood in Arthur Boyd’s studio in awe, if not in admiration, of the strange human figures in dark, curling landscapes painted on huge canvasses. As an adult, I understood the total dedication and years of hard work behind these paintings, as well as his instinctive brilliance and the love of paint he had from a very young age. He was a great painter, something I knew I would never be, but I believed if I worked hard I could become a good painter. For twenty years I considered myself a painter and thought I’d paint until I could no longer hold a brush. Then I began to read the many, many letters my mother had given me and slowly the idea of writing a book took hold. Words became my obsession, leaving no time and no desire to paint.

Luckily, I consider myself successful if I’m happy with my work, rather than whether or not it sells. Having my own style is very important to me. My mother’s paintings are not at all similar to mine and my sister’s style is different again. Catherine Hull Sinclair lives in England and paints beautifully detailed birds, flowers, and decorative china vases and bowls, often in unusual and whimsical situations.

Over the years I’ve exhibited at Roar Studios, Manyung Gallery, The Jackman Gallery, and Forty-five Downstairs, among many others. My first book, ‘Shy Love Smiles and Acid Drops; Letters from a difficult marriage’ was published in 2021. My second book,’ A Crying Sort of Happiness; Letters of love and despair’ was published in 2024.