Day 92

So I was flipping through an art magazine a few days ago and I saw some pretty sad news. My favorite painter, James Reynolds, passed away on February 8th. He is the artist that changed the way I think about painting, color and composition. I remember seeing my first painting of his about 10 years ago.  I was (and still) beyond impressed with what he was capable of.

James Reynolds was a storyboard artist in Hollywood for 15 ears before he moved on to creating his own pieces. He was a fan of Frank Tenney Johnson (another favorite of mine). James followed his lead by taking his composition and paint application to the next level and made it something his own. I remember reading a quote about James Reynolds from the leading western artist in the world, Howard Terpning. He said that James was SO good that he made everyone else look bad. Coming from him, that means a lot. James was an artist's artist. Meaning that only other artists were really aware of him. He was not much into advertising, or promoting himself. And at the top of his game (at probably 65 years old) he quit painting the scenes he was know for, and starting painting landscapes. His paintings became very academic, but they also contained a soul and a mood in each one of them. He had released a book of his landscapes through the gallery Claggett/Rey in Vail Colorado. I recently purchased it. The day it showed up in the mail was the day I found out he had died a few months back.

The reason this bummed me out so much is that  in the western art scene, it's not very big, so once you get in, it's a very close group. I have pretty much had the chance to be in art shows with most of the leading artist in the business. He was 1 of 3 (and the most important) I was hoping to meet, I really thought I was getting close. So, I really missed the chance to meet a pretty special person.

This is a drawing of the bio picture he used for the last few years of his life.