As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real. As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting.
Travel is also a constant inspiration.
Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children's books.