Addicted to Art

For David and Madeleine

This is a thumbnail sketch of my life as an artist - hopefully it will inspire some young (or older) person to pursue art, either as a hobby or a career.

Early Years

I have loved drawing as long as I can remember. In kindergarten through high school, I would sit in class and draw, while listening to the teacher. Curiously, my mind would go quiet and I was able to absorb most of what the teacher was saying. This is “the zone” I experience while drawing - it is like being in a different world. I didn’t have any particular motivation except that I just enjoyed drawing, so I kept at it through the years. I guess you could say I was addicted to art from an early age.

High School and College

I attended summer art classes all through elementary, middle school and high school - I think my mom sent us to summer school to get us out of her hair, but I never complained because it was fun. Later, I took a few college art classes while pursuing a degree in oceanography at the University of Washington. One of my favorite college memories was making detailed pen and ink drawings of freshly caught marine specimens in the invertebrate zoology lab.

Getting Serious About Art

After college and a stint in the Navy, I decided to take my drawing to a higher level. I rented a basement apartment near Balboa Park in my hometown of San Diego, and bought a book, The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaides. Every morning I went over to the Park and Zoo for about three hours and made quick gesture drawings of animals, people, plants, buildings, and anything else that caught my eye.

These 30-second sketches helped me overcome my fear of failure, of making mistakes - a great boost to my confidence as an artist. I used the cheapest paper I could find, mostly newsprint and oatmeal paper, from sketch pads to larger sheets. I never saved any of them because I always regarded them as throwaways, something to do for practice. This kept me from worrying about how the drawings would turn out, a big inhibiting factor for artists.

In the evenings I attended life drawing workshops, where I drew from live models, practicing the other lessons from the Nicolaides book: contour drawing, modeling, composition, light and shadow. It was also great fun to talk with other artists and see what they were doing. I studied drawings of the great masters and even invested in a 4-volume set, Great Drawings of All Time, which I still have. Later, I was exposed to contemporary art and artists, which greatly broadened my horizons.

Art School - Or Not?

After about a year of working on my own, I thought of making a living at art. I figured that if I went to art school I might progress faster and learn how to make money. I enrolled in an MFA program at a local university, where I took courses in advanced drawing, oil painting, watercolors, design, printmaking and art history. However, I soon realized that taking classes didn’t necessarily perform some magic on your abilities, or your chances of making a living as an artist. I quit the program after a year and went back to working on my own, although at a reduced pace. By then I was 27 years old, and felt I needed to start some kind of career where I could make a dependable income. From then on, I treated art as a hobby, simply for the enjoyment of it.

Pursuit of a Hobby

For several years I kept drawing with pen and ink, colored pencils and pastels, and did a few watercolors. Most of this work was with the human figure and botanical subjects, not much in the way of landscapes. I also dabbled in acrylic and oil painting, but never spent enough time to get past the difficult period of coping with the properties of paint.

I learned pastels from art teacher Jim Clark at Mesa College in San Diego, during informal life drawing sessions he hosted in the evenings. He was a great artist and teacher, and also a prime example of someone who did “art for art’s sake,” working on discarded pieces of chipboard and as far as I know, didn’t sell any of the drawings he made during our sessions. Of course, he didn’t need the money because he had a regular job :) He was kind of a role model for me as an artist. I could work whatever job to support myself and my family, and in my spare time I could draw and paint to my heart’s content. That suited me quite well, although I realize it’s not for everybody.

Landscapes and Photography

My wife wouldn’t allow me to display any of my nude figure drawings in the house, so in 2004 I turned to landscapes. I got my first digital camera and took it on a trip to southern Utah, where I was blown away by the incredible topography there. I had done some film photography before that, but it was so cumbersome and expensive. With the digital camera, I went crazy and shot everything I could see, and learned to process the pictures in Photoshop. Since then I have regularly traveled the southwest, camping and taking pictures of the landscapes. Photography helped me to learn about lighting, color and composition, and I still love it. During this period, until 2022, I did photography and almost no drawing or painting.

Retirement and Digital Inspiration

After a rather tumultuous working life, I retired in early 2019. I was at loose ends for awhile, trying to figure out what to do with all the extra time I now had. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten about drawing and painting, having become totally absorbed in photography. Then in late 2022, I discovered digital art using an iPad, which rekindled my interest in drawing. Now I could make pastels without the mess, and the iPad was so easy to take with me wherever I went.

Painting in Earnest

In 2023, I determined to satisfy my desire to paint with oils and acrylics. I set up a small studio at home and arranged my schedule to paint about 3 hours every night. As I write this, I’m still struggling with painting, but making some progress. I was going to wait until I became proficient and then start putting my paintings on the website, although who knows how long that would take? I decided to go ahead and put them out there anyway. If you look at the paintings you’ll see the progression from my earliest paintings in 2023 to my latest ones. I think this is kind of interesting and might give someone some insight into the painting/learning process. I did sort of curate the paintings, selecting some of the better ones for the website, and got rid of the failed experiments. My success rate for paintings has gone from about 1 of 3 to about 3 of 5 paintings. By “successful” I mean the paintings worked out somewhat and I was able to complete them.

More Photography

I haven’t forgotten about photography. In fact, my wife and I recently returned from a trip to New Mexico, where I took pictures of the colorful canyons in and around Taos and Abiquiu. My next photographic venture will be to start doing some aerial photos with a drone I just bought. I’ll update this when I get around to taking some photos with it.

Aspirations

I intend to keep making art as long as I am alive and capable - it brings me so much joy, and I hope will bring joy to others too. I love bold designs and bright colors, as you can tell by looking at my work. Once my paintings are good enough (I don’t know when that means, but I’ll know it when I get there), I’ll start some kind of marketing plan and see what happens. I hope to find a gallery or two which will represent me, but I also am considering selling direct to customers. Eventually I’ll start doing some chalk pastels again, watercolors and other media for variety, as well as figures and botanical subjects as I have done in the past.

-Jim Meyer