Wildomar Art Studio Lets Residents Discover Their Creative Side

In a small, brightly lit studio situated behind her Indiana Street home in Wildomar, Jan Belliveau moves back and forth between the canvas she's painting and the students seated around her.

Paintbrush in hand, the 63-year-old artist offers suggestions and tips to the three long-time pupils who are at the studio Friday morning for their weekly class. For the $20 they each paid for the session, they received three hours worth of lesson time, camaraderie, and a mental break.

JoAnn Carroll, 70, starting painting about 20 years ago. She said the creative outlet takes her to another place.

“It’s almost a release. You come away so relaxed,” she said.

Carroll also comes for friendship. Jennie Wetmore, 63, and Marie Anderson, 78, were at Friday's class; the women have all been coming to Belliveau for years.

“We share what’s going on in our lives,” Carroll said.

The trio was painting in a style that Belliveau describes at “decorative.” “If it doesn’t move, we decorate it,” she said.

On nearly every space of the 20-foot high studio walls hang canvases, wood works, tins, glass, and paper--each painted in acrylic with flowers, bows, landscapes, animals, holiday scenes and others.

Wetmore said she never held a paintbrush before taking lessons with Belliveau. She was nervous about her skills but said she desperately wanted to learn.

“My attitude is if you can write your name you can paint,” Belliveau said. “I wouldn’t say any of us have a God-given gift. It’s a technique you learn."

Wetmore is now a teacher herself. She gives lessons at the Chateau at Harveston, a Temecula senior living community where her mother resides. All of her students are over the age of 80.

“They look so forward to it,” she said.

As for Belliveau, she is looking to gain more students at her Wildomar studio, which is called “JustJan.” Currently, she holds four classes a week.

Belliveau moved to Wildomar with her husband in September. They relocated from Murrieta after moving to California from New Jersey in 1999. She also had a studio in Murrieta, and before that she operated out of a space she leased in Old Town Temecula.

But the down economy has kept her from reopening in a retail or commercial site.

Besides, she likes her current spot. The approximately 500-square-foot Wildomar studio can accommodate up to six students per class and there’s room to expand if needed.

Friday morning the studio offered a tranquil vibe.

“I’m delighted with this place,” Belliveau said. “It’s perfect.”

For more information about painting classes, call JustJan Art Studio at 951-226-7997 or visit www.justjan.info.