July Featured Artist
Jimmie Butts
I have been a painter all my life. It is a gift from God. I grew up in Columbus Georgia attending school there, I didn't have any formal art training. There was an art teacher that thought I had the ability to be an artist. I did not take any art classes, although my teacher encouraged me to do so. Occasionally I would participate in art contests and won first place in quite a few competitions. In my junior year of high school, my art teacher (Mr. Ford) compiled some of my drawings and submitted them to an art institute of higher learning. I was offered a scholarship to attend art school, however, I chose to stay in public school and play football. After high school I chose to leave Atlanta to attend Job Corp in the state of Washington. I completed Job Corp and went on to attend Yakima Community College. After two years of college, I found employment on the Hanford site in the Tri-Cities area of Eastern Washington. While working at Hanford for a while I regained my interest in painting. I joined an art organization called Allied Arts in Richland, WA. I produced quality paintings while with the organization but did not receive adequate visibility. I tried different styles of painting and found them difficult to master. I would best describe my style as sketch painting and impressionistic. I enjoy working with glass, wood carving and creative design. At one point I decided that I would try to paint with a brush in the same manner as sketching with a pencil. I found that when painting with a brush some of a bristles were either too long or too soft. As I experimented with this style I discovered the right brushes were available for sketch painting. I then started to sketch more often with a brush in the same way as I would sketch with a pencil, shading the colors in as needed. I call this style sketch painting, with the results being similar to a photograph. After meeting with some of the ONYX artists I was encouraged to learn more about the organization and to continue producing works. For more information please contact Onyx at: 206-905-4617.
|
|
