If you are driving the backroads and farmland around Upper Bucks, watch for a woman in a sunhat at an easel. Bucks County artist Jane Ramsey stops wherever she finds inspiration to paint a landscape or farm scene.

And for this gifted watercolor painter, inspiration is in the preserved farms and open spaces all around her. It is why Jane does the majority of her painting en plein air, on a roadside or the edge of a farm field. She keeps her car packed with painting supplies so that she can stop to work any time and any place where the light or scene catches her eye.

Jane’s work may be familiar to some, as she regularly donates paintings of local landscapes to Heritage Conservancy for the auction at our annual Farm to Table fundraiser. In fact, Jane joined us last June to paint on site at the event, and her finished work (above) was a very popular item in our benefit auction. She will return with paintbrushes for next month’s event, which supports local conservation efforts.

“I think about where I live and I am on preserved land, surrounded by preserved land,” says Jane. “It is amazing.”

Jane lives in a rental cottage at Ulrich Farm, a conserved farm in Upper Bucks, where she documents the workings of agriculture and the ordinary and extraordinary details of Bucks County farm life. She came to live here after painting on the property and getting to know the owners, who became friends.

“Without preservation, they couldn’t afford to stay on their farm,” says Jane. As they slow down and cut back on the area they can plant, their easement allows them to age in place. Jane speaks reverently of the farm and of the stories and history the grounds and buildings harbor. 

Her connection to these farmscapes and woodlands and their stories fuels her passion for conservation. “Without conservation efforts, Bucks County would not be the place it is,” she says. 

That is why Jane has supported Heritage Conservancy over the years as an individual member and a business partner, in addition to her generosity with her time and artistic talent. “I think that the work that Heritage Conservancy does is so important,” she says. “Your mission totally aligns with my mission, totally aligns with my inspiration.”

All of Jane’s paintings are watercolor and almost all are painted from life, not photos. She loves plein air for the sense of spontaneity it offers and the way it allows her to really see and interact with her surroundings.

“I always knew I wanted to be an artist,” says Jane. Her mother pointed out nature details to her as she was growing up. Jane’s father loved old buildings and barns and would take the family for ice cream and scenic weekend drives when Jane was a girl. Upon return, her mom would often let her skip chores so she could sketch out what she saw.

Jane continues to keep sketchbooks and to collect small scraps of nature like she did as a child, growing up in Lumberville. “You know how you don’t realize how special something is until later on,” she says. Growing up free-range in a small community, Jane learned to enjoy the stories of older neighbors on front porch visits.

“There were so many artists in Lumberville. It wasn’t a foreign idea to me that you could be an artist.” Jane babysat for local artists and learned from them. “I always knew I wanted to do art.”

Jane studied graphic arts and design at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and worked for decades as a commercial artist, illustrating concept and story boards for advertisers. She settled in Lehigh County shortly after and returned to live in Bucks County in 2011. Throughout her career she continued to paint and to spend time in Bucks County with her parents.

“Preservation was really important to them and so it was important to me. I valued old things. I valued open space. I valued history.” All of this can be seen in Jane’s work.

“It breaks my heart when I drive by a place and see a barn being torn down or a farm being razed, because you don’t get it back,” she says. “It’s gone forever. And the stories go with it, and the lay of the land. It’s the whole ripple effect. The wildlife is altered. It affects everything.”

Jane’s landscapes overlap with Heritage Conservancy’s conservation areas, and many of the landscapes she paints are protected by our easements. “The work you are doing isn’t instant gratification,” she says. “We may be years out from seeing the benefit of it, maybe even generations out. But it is really important, and work that has to be done.”

When visitors to Jane’s studio invariably gush over the landscapes she has captured with her paintbrush, she is quick to speak about the importance of preservation and the work of Heritage Conservancy specifically.

At Simons Fine Art Framing and Gallery, Jane meets with collectors and shares her work. She also shows other artists. In the ground floor, she runs a business that specializes in archival framing. 

Jane also teaches watercolor classes, both from her studio and outdoors, with small groups. Her love of plein air painting is contagious, as she and her students draw from the life around them. She shares her inspiration in the details and experience of being in a place of beauty.  

In her own way, she is preserving the landscapes and open spaces of Bucks County as well, if only on paper. “I have done paintings of farms that have since been razed,” says Jane. 

“I think nothing would please me more than if for some of the places in these paintings and drawings, if ten years from now you can go back, and the trees might be bigger but the vista would still be there.”

Learn more about Jane and view her work. You can find more information on her work, her teaching, and framing services here.

Look for Jane at next month’s Farm to Table fundraiser and auction.