Jim McVicker is a plein air artist living in California. He has a way of adding life to his paintings (perhaps because he paints from life vs. a photo?) whether outdoors or in the studio.
Begonias and Sunlight is a spectacular painting, don’t you think? The table is exquisite, the pots of begonias are spot on but that RUG, I love it! This is a fabulous painting because it’s interesting – the light, shadows, subject matter. It’s fresh and different.
See more of Jim’s work via these links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Galleries
Read a bit about Jim, info from his website (read more HERE):
Jim McVicker – Painter
❝I made my first on location, plein air, painting in 1973. My influences then were the French Impressionist, mostly Monet, Pissarro and Sisley. At the time I was working full time and attending art classes at Chaffey Community College in Southern California. I was born and raised in Ontario California, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. By the summer of 1975 I decided to become a full time painter. I quit my job, left school and moved to Santa Cruz in Northern Ca. I always loved the northern part of the state and wanted to get away from everything I knew up to that point and start a fresh life as a painter. I think I had about $5,000 dollars in my bank account. In my mind, enough money to make a start at really exploring and trying to learn how to paint. My work at the time was very rough but I had no doubt that I would grow and survive.
After a couple of years I move further north to Humboldt County and have remained here, with a couple of adventures elsewhere, since 1977. Humboldt is where my education as a painter really started. There were several painters in the area whom I met through a life drawing group. Three of them, Curtis Otto, James Moore and George Van Hook became close friends as well as the three painters I learned so much from for the next few years. We painted daily together and George and I shared a studio for a couple of years. Working so closely with artists beyond ones own level was such a great way to learn to see.
In 1984 I met my wife, Terry. She was working as a graphic at the time we met but by the time we were married in 1988 she began painting as a fine artist full time. Terry has been another major infulence in my development as an artist. To have a partner and companion on a daily bases that sees in ways I don’t, and paints her view of life, opened my work and continues to do so. We also both believe in painting from life, outdoors and in the studio. We both paint a lot of still life and figure painting when not working outdoors.
I paint small and large on location. I’ve painted as large as 54×84 outdoors, but normally work 9×12 to 30×40. I may work one to fifteen or twenty sittings outdoors. I have no set rules but work until I feel I’ve completed the painting. Sometimes years later I will re-work a painting in the studio when I feel it is not quite working. It is funny how time can often change how we perceive our work.
I always look at as much art as I can, historical and contemporary. I learn from all of it. I will always keep painting and trying to grow as a painter. I think that will never end.❞
Until next time…