For Janice Tracy, it took a converting a bedroom into studio workspace to push her back into making art.

“There’s nothing like commandeering a space in your house and claiming it in the name of art to jumpstart your artistic ambitions,” said Tracy said about the new studio in a home she shares with her husband Drew outside Sisters. “Once I claimed a room in our house in the early 2000s, I felt like I had to justify such a lavish use of space by creating some art worthy of being made by someone who calls themselves ‘artist.’”

Tracy’s first foray into art was in the 1990s, when she took a watercolor class at Central Oregon Community College. She has since moved through pastels, oil paints, acrylics, collage, and even digital paint. Today, her studio is crammed with books, paints, pencils, brushes, paper, canvas — and every style of artwork in every stage of completion. She says she has struggled to stick with a signature look, as her love of innovation surpasses her need to build a following for any particular style.

As her art progressed, so has Tracy’s tendency to get nose-deep in the organization of the arts and artists where she lived.

Her affinity for helping herself and fellow artists improve and find exhibition outlets led to her leadership as president of the Society of Washington Artists and secretary of the Mosaic Arts Alliance, both headquartered in Vancouver, Wash. When her family moved back to Central Oregon, she found herself looking around for another such group. That’s when she found the Dry Canyon Arts Association, which is in a fast-growing phase with numerous plans for enriching Redmond and its surrounding area with art culture and education.

Today, Tracy (Jan to her friends) is working as marketing director for Dry Canyon Arts Association.

Tracy has lived on both sides of the Cascades and it shows in her work, which often reflects mountain, forest and coastal scenes. Her approach to art is to capture a place, a moment, or a notion in the hope that the viewer can experience it with her. Although the medium and method may change, her subjects tend toward landscape, with the exception of the occasional dog. And don’t be surprised if you find a bear wandering through one or two of those landscapes. She appreciates a smile or chuckle as a reaction as much as she enjoys seeing viewers awed by a mountain scene.

“For art to surpass a photograph of a thing of beauty, it must reach beyond the image to reproduce the sensation of the moment,” she said. “This is my goal in every piece of art.”

Tracy has exhibited her art throughout the Northwest, selling pieces from Edmonds, Wash. to Northern California. She strives to continue to improve by entering at least one juried art exhibit per year.

A celebratory Artist of the Month reception will be held at Cascade Hasson Sotheby’s International Realtors during downtown Redmond’s First Friday Artwalk from 5-8 p.m. on August 2. Tracy’s eclectic array of artwork will be on full display, with hors d’oeuvres and wine on hand for all who join in the party. Everyone is welcome to come downtown, duck out of the summer heat, and enjoy Tracy’s creative viewpoint.

Meet the artist

Cascade Hasson Sotheby’s Realtors in downtown Redmond will host unveil the latest works by Henriette Heiny as part of the Dry Canyon Arts Association First Friday Art Walk.

This reception is set for Friday, June 7, from 5-8 p.m., and will include fine wine and hors d’oeuvres.