After sitting on a chair for two hours and 18 minutes, Carole Harness finally got to see the portrait longtime artist Jane Mudd drew for her on the afternoon of June 5 at the Montgomery County Arts Council building.

Harness, a Montgomery City resident who joined the Arts Council Board of Trustees in May, was impressed.

“It looks like me, doesn’t it?” Harness said.

The Harness painting was part of Mudd’s visit at the Arts Council. Several people stayed during the entire portrait presentation. After the presentation was over, Mudd signed the painting and gave it to Harness.

Harness was one of many people Mudd has drawn during her career as an artist. Much of Mudd’s work revolved around oil, pastel, watercolor, sculpture, plein air and landscape paintings. She has over 100 works posted on her website (janemudd.com).

Mudd said whenever she does portraits, it takes her a long time to finish.

“I would spend six or so hours on some of them because I would put things in the background to identify them a little bit, like a musician may have a piano running through or a naturalist would have birds,” Mudd said. “I did a few things like that. I would detail them out a little more.”

Mudd has worked as a professional artist and educator for 25 years. She currently has 16 portraits in the For The Love Of Locals exhibit at the Montminy Gallery in Columbia.

“I have been doing portraits for a long time,” Mudd said.

After teaching for several years at Stephens College, Mudd joined the art faculty at William Woods University, where she remained until her retirement in 2019.

Even though she has retired as professor, Mudd continues to remain active in painting. She holds studios at Orr Street Studios in Columbia and at her farm in Fulton.

Recently, Mudd did some art work at a nursing home in Fulton.

“The activity director knew me and called me in and said, ‘How would you like to come in and do a demonstration? It would really be fun for them.’ So I got one of the residents to sit for me,” Mudd said. “I was talking and painting away. I started talking about what I was doing. Then, I turned around and most of them were asleep. Then, I ended up coming every week. They had me volunteer.”

A St. Louis native, Mudd moved to Fulton in 1975. The next year, she earned her Bachelor’s degree at Fontbonne University. She later began displaying her artwork in the 1980s at numerous art venues before pursuing a Master’s degree at the University in Missouri-Columbia.

“I learned a lot when I was an undergrad,” Mudd said. “Then, I went to graduate school after I had three kids. My youngest was only three years old. I thought, ‘I love parenting, but I think I’ll be a better parent if I can get back into art and get a balance in my life.’ It was very difficult. My husband was supportive.”