| Jim Brooksher will be our featured artist. “In my work, I transform actual places into “romantic settings”. My primary goal in painting is to capture the beauty of memorable places and inspire the viewers to visit the depicted locations. I make my works romantic and representational without looking too realistic or illustrative. My works often bring back a memory viewers can connect with. A noted trademark of my works is the use of accentuated color. Brilliant colors aid in capturing the viewer’s eye, and help in making scenes more romantic. I started drawing everything I saw when I was seven. My mom, seeing that I loved art, bought me an adult oil painting set, complete with harsh paint thinners. I started painting mostly animals, then area landscapes. My high school did not offer art classes (metal shop and wood shop were the closest things to art classes). I convinced my parents to help me do the mail-in classes offered by Art Instruction Schools (as advertised on TV), in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This exposed me to various media, including charcoal sketching, acrylics, pastels, ink drawing and even ceramics. My high school did not offer art classes (metal shop and wood shop were the closest things to art classes). I convinced my parents to help me do the mail-in classes offered by Art Instruction Schools (as advertised on TV), in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This exposed me to various media, including charcoal sketching, acrylics, pastels, ink drawing and even ceramics. I had several jobs after college, including design engineer, quality technician, and eventually an engineering manager at a Lake County Illinois pharmaceutical company. I still considered art as my primary focus. I started participating in summer art fairs to show my paintings, and now focus on watercolor paintings and oil paintings as my career. I turned an art hobby into a “side career” and eventually into a full-time business. I also do art demonstrations for schools and art leagues. I have participated in over 300 art fairs. All of my landscape works represent actual locations. The descriptions on the front of my paintings tell about the depicted scenes and they often give directions on how to visit the painted sights. I sometimes start painting on location to aid in capturing a specific mood. I then finish the paintings in my studio. My paintings of Midwest barns, lighthouses, Chicago scenes and mountainscapes are either done from multiple photos and/or from initial draft paintings started on location.” |
