World Blog Hop! by Jimmie Bartlett artist in Van Vleck, Texas

I am excited about The World Blog Hop event and want to thank my good friend Vernita Bridges Hoyt  for the invitation to participate.  Vernita is a very accomplished  and well known artist in Spring, Texas.  Her art and blog has been an inspiration to me.  I encourage you to visit her great blog at http://TXsauce.blogspot.com.

Before I start answering the questions below, I want to introduce you to my beautiful wife Carolyn.  Without her support I would never have achieved my/our goals and become a full time artist.  She is the pretty one on the left.  Carolyn is a very talented artist and creates beautiful crafts from vintage jewelry and repurposed items.

1. What am I working on?

Currently I am working on two oil paintings of roses and planning projects for 2015.  Carolyn and I have ten shows scheduled for next year and plan to add a few more. We also create and maintain our websites and sell our art on Fine Art America.

The picture on the left is our booth at Angleton Market Days.  We also do The Peddler Shows in Rosenberg and Corpus Christi (Robstown), Texas.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Probably the biggest difference is that I like to work on a variety of art for the challenge and elimination of boredom. I can easily go from painting birdhouses to work on a portrait. We also produce a line of crafts for our shows.

We started our business (The Bartlett Pair) in 1993 making furniture and crafts. Our business evolved over time to become a diverse offering of arts and crafts. 

I paint things that catch my eye or from my imagination, and don't specialize in any particular area of painting; but, want to make each one of my works special. I enjoy it all.  Some works come from photo references, and others just the brush, paint and me. My goal is to paint as well as I can, as much as I can, everyday.

3. Why do I create what I do?

I love arts and crafts, the processes, and the creation. As a child growing up I had a natural tendency to draw and build things. Most of my working life was in the technical field, but my desire to create art was strong and with the gracious support of my wife Carolyn, painting full time became a reality. For me, painting is a gift from God, and the ultimate release of creativity.

4. How does my creating process work?

Oh boy!  This is a wide open question for me, but here goes.  My main source of inspiration comes from within.  What do I want to paint or build next?!  Most of my ideas comes from seeing beautiful things or interesting subjects from real life and taking pictures.

When I have a great photo I want to paint from, I use it for reference to sketch it on the canvas.  If it's fairly complex, I grid it off or use my projector to save time. Some of my paintings come from planning them in my head for long periods before starting.  I don't really watch TV at night - I am usually thinking about art.

 Before I call a painting finished, Carolyn critiques it for me.  She is unbiased and gives me the good, bad and ugly. LOL!  Also, I take a photo of it to review for improvement opportunities.  The camera is another set of eyes. 

Next on the World Blog Hop:

My friend, Dorothy Berry Lound will post on January 12th to continue the hop at  http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/dorothy-berry-lound.html?tab=blog . Dorothy is a great visionary artist, writer, and teacher fromUmbria, Perugia - Italy and I encourage you can see her extraordinary work on Fine Art America.com.

Thank you for stopping in and putting up with my ramblings.  I hope you enjoyed the post and will visit my art blog again.

God Bless You,
jimmie@jimmiesart.com