Jane Penfield is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America and of Connecticut Pastel Society, and an elected member of the American Artists Professional League, as well as many other regional organizations. She is past president of the Connecticut Pastel Society and of Arts Center East in Vernon, Connecticut. Jane’s work has won awards in many national and international shows, and has been included in the Pastel 100, winning an award in the still life category. She has won Best in Show twice in the CPS annual Members Show.

Jane is inspired by nature, as well as to the human influence on it, especially elements that evoke light, drama, and emotion. Her work is an impression of light and life as she has experienced it through walking, travel, and direct observation. She offers a weekly pastel class online and is frequently invited to give demos and workshops.

Before making visual art her primary focus, Jane worked professionally as a choral director and administrator of nonprofit arts organizations. She finds great joy in the creative process and in teaching. She says, "I recognize the same elements familiar to me in music: composition, form, tonality, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, and dynamics. Good habits of study and practice are essential. Painting, like conducting a choir, involves starting from scratch, observing, identifying problems, fixing them, and always trying to make it better, in order to create and present something beautiful in the end."