Southern Oregon has been Jani's home for most of her life. She resides in the Umpqua Valley surrounded by rolling hills. The area's natural beauty has been an inspiration to Jani’s art. Throughout her life she has enjoyed drawing and painting, but she also took up carving wooden heirloom Santa Clauses in the 90s; she has carved in excess of 1500 Santas!

Jani has returned to other forms of art and now only has time to carve around a dozen Santas a year. The other mediums she works in are watercolor, alcohol ink, acrylic, oils, and pastels. Ice dying silk scarves is one of her fun artistic endeavors.

Needle felting is another passion for Jani. During the months leading to Christmas, she spends hours with her barbed needles poking clumps of wool into shapes and creating sculptures. A variety of animal creatures evolve from the masses of wool, including Halloween witches and Christmas Santa Clauses. Jani is one of the founding artists of Gallery Northwest and shares gallery operations with the fellow members. She and her husband enjoy their lives on a couple of acres in the countryside near Roseburg, Oregon. They both have their own creative spaces; he has his own shop filled with tools, saws, and all sorts of gizmos for his woodworking/jewelry making. Jani has her own spacious studio fit with a loft. Jointly, Jani and Jim spend many hours designing and firing enamel jewelry in the kiln. The rest of the studio space is used for woodcarving and painting. The studio even boasts a sink for soaking large sheets of watercolor paper. Talk about a spoiled artist!