Born in Geneva, Illinois on December 18, 1932, Jane Goode grew up in the Midwest among a family of politicians and academics who highly valued aesthetic appreciation. Her parents exposed their daughter to art from a young age and provided her with opportunities to fully engage in her passionate talent in painting and sketching.“I always wanted to become a painter,” said Jane. Growing up in the Chicago area, she remembers that “the Chicago Art Institute was the hub of creative environment. Visiting this museum as early as age 12, I found myself surrounded by the best collection of Impressionist paintings outside of Paris. I was immediately drawn into their spell and never deviated from my path.” After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in art from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, Jane spent a summer studying landscape painting at the Chicago Art Institute, followed by four years of strong academic training in all art mediums at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. It was there she met and wed fellow artist James Pilatos (1932-2006) in 1959. This education taught the couple that New York was the ultimate destination for fortune, if not fame, through commercial art. Goode and Pilatos joined a small band of their fellow bohemian colleagues and became part of the Manhattan art scene of the Sixties.Jane spent almost two years filling a portfolio with decorative illustrations before returning to Los Angeles to begin her fine art career, while her husband worked as an animator for Walt Disney Studios.In 1967 the couple followed their shared dream to paint full-time by relocating to Carmel with toddler daughter Clare. When Clare grew older, Jane was able to return to her easel and spent a summer in Rexburg, Idaho studying under Ukrainian-born Master Painter Sergei Romanovich Bongart (1918-1985). Bongart was a colorist, best known for his expressive landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Jane absorbed her teacher’s exaggerated palettes, dynamic but carefully controlled color relationships, and richly emotional style. When she returned to Carmel, her paintings began echoing Bongart’s credo that “color comes first, subject last.”Upon Clare’s graduation from college, Jane and her daughter traveled to France to follow the trail of the Impressionists, including a memorable visit to Monet’s Gardens at Giverny. As Jane described it, “In all my life, one of the most important experiences I had was standing before a Monet painting and feeling the sensibilities of the artist who painted. I felt I was making the same discoveries as Monet did, as if I were going to place the next brush stroke myself. Going to France was a major turning point in my life and my art.” Endlessly inspired, Jane took special delight in the natural world, its moods and colors informing everything. Jane became an Artist Member of the Carmel Art Association in 1983. She also joined the Society of American Impressionists. Exhibiting at CAA and other galleries in the West including New Mexico and Arizona, Jane earned distinction for her outstanding plein air oils as well as her illustrations of fairy tales and nursery rhymes captured in gouache on paper. Wrote one art reviewer, “Goode was an artist who channeled Impressionism ever since she first learned its definition.” Jane herself echoed this truth when she stated, “My greatest artistic influences have been the Barbizon School, French Impressionists, and Post-Impressionists because of their love and exploration of color as well as their dedication to painting in the open air to capture the outdoor light. All of my work is done directly in Nature.”Among Jane’s favorite activities besides painting were gardening and taking daily sight-seeing walks in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Up until about a year ago, she was a familiar sight to all who knew her as she took these constitutionals through her neighborhood. Gradually her circular routes became shorter, and she sometimes did not recognize her fellow artists and gallerists. Jane Goode passed away on March 17, 2024 at the age of 91. Her childlike nature, insightful spirit, and droll humor will be deeply missed in the Carmel art community.