I
suppose I grew up with a bad case of art on the brain. I have always
tried to find ways to fill all of my activities with it. I love things
that are a bit off of the beaten path. So anything that uses imagination
and takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary is wonderful in my
book.
When I was a young boy my mom and dad would let me draw in church. To this day, I can usually listen better if I have a pencil and paper in hand.
When I was in grade school art was my favorite class. Unfortunately we only had it once a week and we had Physical Education, which was my least favorite class, 4 times a week. A fact that I am still scarred by. When all of the other kids were pasting paper onto the flat page, I was figuring out how to fold and bend to make mine three-dimensional.
My first true experience with art instruction, was a tole painting class my mom signed me up to take. Helga Burgess was my instructor and taught me techniques that later became a springboard for what I would go on to do. It really gave me an advantage in Junior High and High School where most of the students had to learn to paint from scratch, but I had a foundation in color mixing and blending techniques.
I
filled every elective I could with art classes and spent many of my
lunch periods in the art room working on paintings and other art projects.
I seemed to have a natural talent for any media my instructors gave
me. In High School my art teacher, Mrs. Debra McCarthy was a true inspiration
and encouraged me to explore many different areas of art. I will remain
forever in her debt for who and what I am in the art world today.
When I turned 19 I served a mission for the LDS church.
I was gone 2 years and I was afraid I would lose my skills as an artist.
When I got home I still had my skills, in fact they had improved. God
does
bless those who do his work.
College
brought huge leaps in my skills as an artist. I decided to study ceramic
sculpture. I am not sure why, I had to decide between painting and sculpture
and I chose sculpture. But the funny thing is that since I graduated
I haven't really done any sculpture. In fact my first work out of college
was to go back to painting.
I have spent a lot of time in commercial art, and done well, but now I want to find a niche for myself that is somewhere between fine art and commercial art.
My work and what I am really attracted to seems to be very illustrative. I love to take objects out of their ordinary places and find ways go combine them in new ways. I love to invoke imagination and whimsy with tight somewhat classical painting techniques.
I love to learn, if each new painting isn't challenging me, then I get bored with it. I could just create all day, and have a whole team of skilled artists executing my designs, which is where I would like to be someday.
In
the mean time I take inspiration from my family, I am married to a wonderful
woman, Sara. She is a Spaniard and we had the privilege of visiting
Spain a few years ago, an experience I will never forget. I have been
so inspired by the works of the old masters which I got to see in the
Prado Museum in Madrid. You will note that some of my most recent paintings
are more classical in nature. Too be honest they were inspired by many
of the beautiful altar pieces I saw in the Prado. My family is appearing
more and more in my work as I tackle mastering the figure.
I pull a lot of inspiration from such artists as James C. Christensen (I am often told that my work reminds people of his, to my credit, I was putting jewels on my ceramic sculptures before I really knew who he was or what type of artwork he did, but since he is known for using a lot of jewels and beautiful fabric patterns in his work, my work is labeled as looking like his which is a compliment because he is very talented), Tim Burton, Dr. Suess, and Salvador Dali.
Now you have the opportunity to watch my work progress
as I will be posting new works as I am working on them on the site.
I am excited to have this site and use it as a venue to bring my artwork
to the public. I hope you enjoy my work
as much as I have enjoyed creating it.
Jeff
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