For artist Jane Waterous, her relationship with Paradise Island began as a destination for a quick respite from her normal routine. It quickly became a place she never wanted to leave — and so she hasn’t. Soon after her first visit, Waterous and her husband decided to move their young family to the Bahamaian island, and they’ve stayed for 27 years.
During that time, Waterous has revolutionized her art practice, finding inspiration in the island’s light and diving deeper into her work’s messages of joy and the need for human connection. These days, she can often be found in her airy white studio, colorful paint on her hands, sand on the floor and a view of the turquoise water out the window behind her. “The Bahamas isn’t just where I live,”she says. “It’s my muse, my sanctuary, and the constant reminder that beauty and healing can coexist in the same moment.”
The Bahamas isn’t just where I live,” she says. “It’s my muse, my sanctuary, and the constant reminder that beauty and healing can coexist in the same moment.”
Beauty and healing play a major role in the story of the Waterous family’s Paradise Island experience. With a getaway to Paradise Island on the calendar, Waterous’ husband suddenly fell into an unexplained coma — “one of those moments that stops life in its tracks,” she recalls. Recovery was slow, and they eventually decided to visit Paradise Island after all, “maybe to rest, maybe to reset.” In that tropical air, her husband could finally breathe freely again without pain. “The air on the island was so fresh, felt lighter, the water soothing, gentler, the whole place somehow… healing,” Waterous says.
On a subsequent visit, she remembers sitting with her husband on the sand, watching the light shift across the water, teal to silver to deep turquoise, and feeling something awaken in them both. They decided to plant roots among the palm trees, expecting to stay for two years; nearly three decades later, they’re still living the island life.
Waterous credits Paradise Island’s light and water with spurring a change in her work. Those natural muses inspired her artistic output to become more layered, spirited and joyful.
In the Gatherings series, for example, Waterous employs a three-dimensional technique to capture the joy and rhythm of people coming together — inspired by her observations of people on the island laughing on the beach at sunset, gathering around tables over food, and celebrating together. “There’s a kind of joyful energy that you can feel in the air. That’s what I wanted to capture: the beauty of togetherness,” she says. Meanwhile, her Into the Blueseries — with its cerulean, cornflower and lapis tones — captures the exuberant moment when people jump from land into water, whether that’s the warm water of her current home or the chilly waters from the Canadian cottage days of her youth. “It’s hard not to feel inspired when you live here,” Waterous says. “Every morning, the sunlight dances across the ocean and pours through the windows. The colors are alive, the Caribbean blues, the whites, the golds. It’s almost impossible to separate that light from my work; it’s part of me now.”
She’s also become the artist-in-residence with The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort, where she’s created what she calls an “art-living lobby” with a constantly evolving collection of pieces. What started as a tourist getaway became a foundation for Waterous’ career — and that of her children. The couple’s two sons, who were babies when they first arrived on the island, have grown into successful artists in their own right, each one shaped by the light and rhythm of Paradise Island. They, too, have exhibited their art at The Ocean Club, making Waterous’ residency truly a family affair. When hotel guests arrive at the art-filled lobby, they never know what to expect. When they check in, they might see one presentation of Waterous’ art, and the next morning, it could be completely different. The artist often invites guests and collectors to stop by her studio, giving them a glimpse into her creative process. She doesn’t want the art to just hang on a wall. Instead, she says, “I want it to breathe with the people who experience it.”
“Paradise Island gave my family back its health, peace, excitement and an enduring passion to create. It gave us purpose. And it continues to give us inspiration every single day,” she says. “Sometimes, the places you never planned to stay become the ones that define your life.”
Sometimes, the places you never planned to stay become the ones that define your life.”
