Janet was born in 1960 and has lived all her life in Halls Creek. Her mother was a Kija woman from Alice Downs Station and her father a Ngardi man from Lake Stretch or Nyarna near Billiluna.

Janet's parents were both removed when young from their families to Moola Bulla Government Settlement near Halls Creek. Her grandfather was Wally Dowling, a renown drover who drove cattle along the Canning Stock Route from Billiluna to Wiluna in the Pilbara.

Janet started painting at Yarliyil in 2016 as a way to share culture and country and help to provide for her family. She paints many different stories and most often they are stories of the Dreamtime, stories of country and stories of bush foods, medicines and animals.