At the age of 21, upon seeing nineteenth century French landscape paintings, I had an awakening to art. The beauty and sensitivity I saw in those works changed my perception of the world. I started studying art history, painted copies of French impressionist landscapes and enrolled in life drawing and painting classes at Chaffey Community College. In 1975 I decided to become a full-time painter. I was 24 years old. I moved from Ontario, California, where I was raised, to the northern part of the state. After a year I settled in Eureka California. I was drawn there by the beauty, the art community, and the chance to live a quieter more rural life. I met and worked with several very accomplished artists, painting landscapes everyday on location, or painting in the studio always working directly from the still-life set up or models. I learned from direct observation of nature, by looking at and studying great art from the past and working alongside artists more developed than myself. In 1984 I met my wife and fellow artist, Terry. We live a wonderful quiet life in Loleta, California. It's 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 from life, trying to capture the light, atmosphere, space, and the mysterious beauty all around us. You can visit Jim's website to view more of his work here.