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Color her passion

Paintings of Jane Seymour reflect vibrancy of actress, dancer, designer

"Overwhelmed."

That's actress Jane Seymour's reaction to audiences' acceptance of the vibrant, impressionistic style watercolor and oil paintings she has been cranking out for the past decade.

That was the same time period in which she captivated television audiences with her portrayal of the plucky "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and in her private life produced twin sons.

At an early December Chicago debut of her artwork, Seymour paused during a reception hosted for her by interior designer John Robert Wiltgen to discuss the personal passion that has earned her the title of "California colorist."

A recent recipient of the Order of the British Empire, Seymour's work has won both Golden Globe and Emmy awards.

Strolling through an impromptu gallery created in a Loop loft, Seymour gazed lovingly at 80 of her paintings.

They depict red and blue and yellow hydrangeas spilling from a cobalt blue vase. A child with hair the color of corn silk gathering a clutch of Easter eggs. An inviting landscape that beckons viewers into a vast open countryside. A serene moment in an English courtyard. The art of Ikebana.

"My goodness, there are more of my paintings here than in my own home," observed Seymour, who hopes to find a permanent gallery to display her work in the Windy City. Princes range from $500 to $40,000 with most pieces gong for $10,000 to $20,000.

Seymour's aggressive use of color and stylized interpretation of familiar objects is what inspired Wiltgen to invite the artist to stage a showing of her work in the Midwest.

"Her presentation is unique in that it works as well in contemporary settings as it does with traditional interiors," says Wiltgen, an Arlington Heights native whose work is known throughout the United States and in Europe.

Seymour's fascination with art began when she was growing up in Hillingdon, England, in a close-knit family where gifts were always created by loving hands, nor purchased at stores.

"In this way, I learned to express the true spirit of giving of one's self," says Seymour.

Though she studies art in England's equivalent of elementary and high school and considered continuing it in college, by that time her all-encompassing love affair with ballet pushed all other interests aside.

As her career as a dancer, then as an actress performing roles that ran the gamut from James Bond's glamorous playmate to a poignant character in eh tumultuous "War and Remembrance," Seymour's creativity has helped keep her afloat both financially and psychologically.

In the early days, she designed and sewed her own wardrobe to subsidize ballet lessons. Even after she settled in California, she bought, renovated and decorated several houses, selling each at a profit to finance newer, more elaborate homes.

"The issue simply was that I couldn't afford a lot and I had to be clever," Seymour says.

So it follows that during a period of personal challenge in her life, Seymour turned to art as therapy. It became the expression of a truly private healing process, one from which she has emerged as an accomplished passionate painter, whether she's in the studio at her Malibu, Calif. home, on movie sets or traveling. And they are practices she's encouraging in her 6-year-old twins, Kris and Johnny, the youngest of six children in the blended family of Seymour and her husband, film director James Keach.

"I buy them good art materials. I don't buy them Nintendo," say Seymour, explaining that she home schools her young sons so they can travel with their parents.

"When we go to a restaurant or on a airplane, all four of us paint and draw," says Seymour, explaining that she's devised an art game where she draw a "squiggle," than asks the boys to tell a story about it.

She's making certain that the twins share the family's favorite pastime of visiting museums - an experience she says continues to define her work. Seymour credits Henri Matisse's stunning motifs, Marc Chagall's magical palette and Raoul Dufy's vibrant watercolors with helping her refine her talent as a colorist.

Studying the watercolors of American artist John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer is a challenge Seymour embraces. That's probably because she considers watercolor closer to an artist's hand and heart than any other medium.

In fact, having commissioned noted Santa Barbara, Calif., watercolorist Tom Mielko to paint a portrait of Kris and Johnny, Seymour was motivated to begin painting with him. As a result, she has started painting with other artists and friends both during her travels and in her own studio.

"The feelings of community that this creates are abundantly rewarding," she says.

Seymour's whistle-stop visit to Chicago took place while en route from Toronto (where she has just finished filming a soon-to-be released movie) back to California to play hostess at a birthday party for the twins.

Having just completed a commission to create set designs for a production opening soon at the Houston Ballet, Seymour looks forward to what she terms a "rounded life" that combines acting, painting and fashion design (a catalog featuring her fabric designs in ready-to-wear is due for release in January) with lots of time for family.

Some of that time is spent at the 16th century Elizabethan manor home called St. Catherine's Court near Bath, England, that Seymour has owned since 1983. Renovating the historic home has been Seymour's ongoing project for 18 years. Though an avid gardener herself, Seymour concentrates on interiors at St. Catherine's Court (they provide plenty of walls for displaying her artwork), leaving the estate's grounds and landscaping to her husband. As a result, Keach has done extensive research to learn what is historically correct in the gardens originally designed by the legendary landscape authority Gertrude Jeckel.

Seymour definitely does not rule out the possibility of another TV series.

As long as it is the right role an leaves plenty of time for art, fashion design and mothering. Mostly mothering.

Sketching and painting are part of Seymour's everyday

- Pat Gerlach

Blending art into home decor

Original art can turn a lovely room into a spectacular setting.

Here are some of interior designer John Robert Wiltgen's suggestions for displaying paintings: