Jane Evans was born in Nelson 1946 and educated at Nelson College for Girls. She enrolled at the Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1965, and the following year travelled to England to attended London's Waltham Forest Art College. Following a period of formal study she determined upon a program of self-education.

This freedom of spirit from a young age resonates throughout a life time's creation of vibrant, free-flowing works. Evan's innate understanding and use of colour saw her flower and figurative narratives hit a high spot in the buoyant international art market of the early to mid 1980s. Today, enthusiasm for her work is again being witnessed in the sale room.

After an initial diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in 1965, Evans was diagnosed with an ongoing condition that affected her for the rest of her life. Often literally painting through her pain, while adapting her painting methods and media accordingly, Evans stated: "Suddenly there was life in front of me and I had to grab it with both hands. It was a compulsive thing for me to express the joys of life."

Evans moved to Christchurch in 1967, returning to Nelson in 1971 and the ongoing support of close friends and family. 1972 saw the artist painting the colourful characters of Sydney's King Cross and setting up a studio in Melbourne.

In 1974 she travelled again to England where she spent three months commencing a series of works showing people visiting and viewing paintings in the London galleries and the lively exchanges at markets such as Portobello Road.

Returning home Evans purchased a cottage in Tasman Street, which she renovated and lovingly established the garden which became a tremendous source of inspiration for her signature flower paintings.

"Of this time she said: the garden was an extension of my life. When I turned to watercolours I found myself in touch with this wonderful, loose spontaneous medium that was really exciting. Passionate about the expressionist works of Matisse, Bonnard and Chagall, Evans said: I am drawn to the painters who express the joy in living.

Her paintings resonated with the public and there were waiting lists for her work. She never allowed journalists to make mention of her illness but worked closely with John Coley on who published her 1997 her biography. In the 1997 New Year Honours, Evans was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to painting.

She died peacefully in 2012 at the Nelson home which she shared with her partner David Furniss.

Jane Evans' love of colour and drawing manifested itself early when, aged four, she drew a menagerie of people and animals on her bedroom walls. She drew incessantly at Nelson College for Girls and won the South Island Secondary Schools' Cup in 1961. While art school was the obvious choice, her art teacher, Ruth Dean, was concerned her individuality might be lost.

When she enrolled at the University of Canterbury's School of Fine Arts in 1965, Evans was already an excellent draughtswoman and a painter with a vigorous, immediate approach. In 1966, Evans entered Waltham Forest Art School, near London, where at the end of the first year, her principal said she would have learnt more without ‘the obstinate pursuance of her own ideas."

She left and began a programme of self-education in England. Evans returned to a flat in Deans Ave, Christchurch in December 1967. A painting trip through Central Otago saw her produce 12 expressionist canvases, which sold for $14 each in 1969. Encouraged by her parents, Evans moved back to Nelson in 1971 to be close to family support. In 1972 Evans spent some time in Sydney and Melbourne, painting the colourful characters of Kings Cross and setting up a studio in Melbourne. In 1974 she spent three months in the UK and was intensely interested in watching and painting the people thronging London's galleries and markets.

Evans bought and renovated a cottage in Tasman Street in 1975. She established a garden and began a series of flower paintings, which satisfied her love of colour and instinct for decorative painting. At this time she experimented with gouache, a less physically demanding medium than oils and acrylics, which she also liked for aesthetic and technical reasons.

"The garden was an extension of my life in those days. When I turned to watercolours I found myself in touch with this wonderful, loose, spontaneous medium that was really exciting."

Evans loved the lyrical, full bodied colour of the early Expressionists such as Matisse, Bonnard and Chagall. “My paintings are celebrations, expressions of delight in my immediate environment and the people and events that touch my life.”