"David Jayne’s paintings are joyous, intimate markings about life.” —Alden Mason

As a child, David N. Jayne was encouraged to paint or draw. In grade school, he had trouble grasping the Three Rs, but if you gave him a pencil, a piece of chalk or a paint brush, and some paint, he did not hesitate to create.

Growing up, he had many influences. The first, of course, were his parents. His mother and father, while not artists in the Artist sense, knew good design and aesthetic from having designed and built several homes. This artistic interest in design and building homes carried over into Jayne's art. He was given private art lessons by Sally Armstrong, beginning in 1963. He made drawings with pencil and paper from still life for several years. Upon moving to Seattle, Garry Laturner and Jan Grandston encouraged him to paint in their classes at Tyee Junior High School. Jayne still keeps several paintings from that period.

At Newport High School, Ron Adams gave Jayne his first instruction in the Abstract art form, and he took an immediate dislike to abstract art. However, Adams encouraged him in drawing figures, making sculptures in plaster and painting still lives. Jayne was exposed to the Gallery scene and other professional artists from this time on. In his senior year, Jayne went to Europe for six months. He visited the galleries in and around Geneva Switzerland. He was moved by some of the great paintings of previous centuries. While he had a lot of influences during his youth, Jayne did not endorse Abstract art or, for that matter, abstract painting until his college years.

Jayne began college in the fall of 1972, taking basic design and figure drawing. His course of study was not set. At one point, he wanted to major in History, his other passion. To this day, he still reads and enjoys history. During his mid-college years, Jayne asked a lot of questions, and struggled to find himself. After some eye-opening experiences, he dropped out of school for awhile.

In 1976, with more focus, Jayne went back to Washington State University and enrolled in their art program. He had two instructors that left their mark on him: Andrew Hofmiester and Keith Monaghan, both respected Northwest artists. Mr. Hofmiester greatly influenced Jayne in watercolor painting and the freedom one could achieve in its use. Mr. Monaghan's influence was seen in the compositional qualities he developed. In 1976, Jayne entered and was accepted in the Bellevue watercolor society annuls show. He has been considered seriously as a painter from that time on.

In 1978, Jayne entered the University of Washington graduate program. Mr. Jacob Lawrence and Mr. Alden Mason played key rolls as instructors in his development. Jayne's use of color and composition were further developed and refined. It was not until after Jayne had left school that a definite mature direction would develop.

During a lunch break in the summer of 1984, Jayne happened to look down at a patch of grass (he was cutting lawns for a living). As he looked at the lawn, he saw all the colors in the spectrum. Inspired by this, he started painting with renewed vigor and vitality. He has continued to paint in a similar mode using dots of color on a colored ground for the past sixteen years. In 1994, Jayne added print-making to his art. This gave him a definite motif from one painting to another, allowing him to develop better color sense. He is continuing to develop new paintings using print-making based on the landscape.

When asked the question "Why does art matter?" Jayne feels what is really being asked is "Why are you a living, breathing human being in the 21st century?" Art is an integrated part of us all, and we often don't take time to see and absorb it. A part of our culture, from the privacy of our homes, to the public environments, art is what we do and who we are.