Jim McVicker

At the age of 21, upon seeing nineteenth century French landscape paintiongs, I had an awaking to art. The beauty and sensitivity i saw in those works changed my perception of and my place in the world.

I began studing art history, painted copies of French Impressionist landscapes and enrolled in life drawinfg and painting classes at  Chaffey Community College. By 1975, at the age of 24 I decided to become a full time painter.

I left southern California and moved to the northern part of the state and settled in the coastal community of Eureka California. I was drawn there by the diverse natural beauty, the art community and the chance to live a quieter more rual life.

I met and worked with several very accomplished painters, painting the landscape everyday on location, or painted in the studio directly from the still life set up or model. I learned from direct observation of nature, by looking at and studying the great artists from the past, continued life drawing and working alongside artist more developed thanb myself.

In 1984 I met my wife and fellow artist, Theresa Oats. We live a wonderful quoiet life in a small rural town just south of Eureka. We have studios on our property and I continue to paint daily, following my passion for painting the life around me, trying to capture the light, atmosphere, space and the mysterious beauty all around us.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.