www.JamesHillGallery.com

by:
James Christopher Hill

I've been in a time in my life looking for various keys of what I want to paint and I finally have figured out that the various paintings and styles that I work in shouldn't really affect what a person thinks. Most marketing "geniuses" out there will tell you that you need to show only your best works, your strongest pieces and only one style or type of work to be successfully financially. While that is sound marketing advice and good advice, it's sad advice because anyone that gets into art to make money or for vanity and only for that reason, "shame on you".

I'm trying to change the world to make people see in my work two sides of the human journey and for that, I have to grow as an artist continuously by changing styles and subject matter to where I know how to paint all things to where finally I will create one day true masterpieces that will last for Glory to the Divine (for me it's God and for you it might be Gods/no Gods/Goddesses/Indras/The Force, you get the point, or whatever belief system that works for you I respect).  Through this process I hope that my work lives on after I'm gone and not be forgotten and left to inspire to create.  We are all here for a reason. Did you know that the universal laws of physics basically say that if you suddenly cease from existence, all the universe would collapse upon the time and space rift of the empty void you created by suddenly disappearing as you take up in mass and energy  needed so that the universe can keep everything together. You are all important in the grand scheme!.

I hope that one day my work creates ideas of our future in a positive Utopian way by creating future city designs that will hopefully inspire architects and engineers of the future to create cities that are not only fully sustainable, zero carbon footprint and waste, but burn no fossil fuels and can geometrically house all people safely and comfortable.

I am also painting ancient ruins of wastelands and fallen empires to show that by greed and negativity this will be our fate unless we start changing our attitudes now from greed and self centered attitudes and finally complete apathy from our current generations of entitlement and arrogance. We live on one planet that is really dying, it's not propaganda. If you could see the earth from space, you would understand the devastation we have already wreaked on this planet. 

I say this as I set up my work and I'm sure people when they come and love either my Gothic/Horror works that show the darkness in this world in a new light to the sci-fi cities that I create to the fantasy dragons/castles to the colorful nebulae of space; they might be someone confused of who I am and represent, but a true artist explores all subjects, get out of their comfort zone and take on new challenges each day starting with DaVinci and Michaelangelo. I revere the human skeleton and the miracle of the human body to the ability of what humans are capable.

God said we are made in the image of God. I personally believe our mission is to listen, to create and to inspire change. If we as artists fail to do that, we are but wall decorations quickly forgotten. It seems lately that corporations and hotels, etc; all choose to hang "non-objective" "SAFE" work so as to not rock the boat, to not offend everyone. They are to me just remakes of the new pop artists/80s movement of corporate work of just colors thrown randomly on canvas.

Well, I say take a risk, do what you want to do. There will always be someone more talented and better than me, but I look at their work as inspiration as to where I want to be years from now. Even at 48, I still feel 18 and I believe my mission is far from over. When I attain what I need a to accomplish spiritually, technically, is the time to pass one to the eternal. Until then, as long as I breath air, I will strive to create whatever comes to mind, like a good writer that never edits or erases their flow of thought; I will create what I want and what comes from my spirit and my heart.

I start, I create and maybe I create an image quickly or over years of time. So, please don't ever ask an artist - "how long did it take to create this painting?" - it's a Quantum answer that basically it took the artist all of their lifelong experiences and hard work to achieve their position and their current ability.

My work varies, but I love going to a major museum and looking at the master artist's process as their mature and grow over years and years especially if they change styles and techniques everyday. We are all affected by all of the world and universe and what it has to offer. We take in to our subconscious mind every bit of data and we record all we see, sense, feel, smell and touch and then we artists feel something in the wind long before everyone else and you might want to head the warnings that come from them deep inside the paintings for we are conduits of the Divine and it is our responsibility to be able to bring this message to the people first if there is something wrong with us or the planet. We are the dreamers, we are the creators of your world in the future. We inspire to create. But it takes a unique vision and then the right technical knowledge of science and math to create the future to motivate the human race the next stage of creation and to the design process and implementation. That is why it's important in my opinion to get hold of the "math" which are the crude sketches, the process of the artists to really understand what is in their creative minds. Only then can you see the big picture forming much later. There is more to come as I have created an entire plan and I believe while you may have seen some amazing art, you haven't seen anything yet!

 Enthusiastically, James Christopher Hill - February 18th, 2015. James ps. we were promised flying cars with nuclear fusion that was safe and cheap by now!

 

Thank you for your time today! :) Sincerely, James Hill

All Rights Reserved 2015 - Copyright - James Christopher Hill

As of Feb 16, 2015 - Latest Steampunk works

For some of my latest Steampunk works....http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/james-christopher-hill.html?tab=artwork

Steampunk Works

 To purchase some of my awesome Steampunk Artwork Blueprints - Check out this site and you can even get prints on pillows! They can print on paper, canvas, stretched canvas, metal and even acrylic.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/james-christopher-hill.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=123812

I recently spent some time in Sarasota, Florida.  The home of my college -Ringling College of Art and Design.  There I show my work at the http://www.madebygallery.com/. 
I spent time walking around various stores downtown - boy has it changed in 20 years.  John Ringling was right - it's the Rodeo Drive for the east coast now.   During that time I met a fine artist name Frank Creaturo.  Here is his website .... http://creaturo.com/ This is a man who has led a very blessed life as I listened to his stories of living in SOHO in NY during the beatnik and jazz era when talents like John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Stan Getz were performing in small clubs and you could go see them live for next to nothing in cost.  To me, I have a nostalgia for that time in NY.  People dressed up, went out, and knew how to party. They had class from the island to the burrows.  Everywhere you went, expression of every kind was exploding in the most creative way.  I guess that's where my new friend found inspiration, first as a club promoter and manager of bands like Billy Joel when they were just starting out and then turned fine artist.  He has a gallery in Sarasota at 1269 First Street ste6 (downtown next to the Library).  There I found art that referenced the pop artists movement of the sixties like Kandinsky and Rosenberg along with pop influences of the eighties artists like Patrick Nagel.  What was unique about his work, was that he was not afraid to combine and change these influences into a new fusion of art just as if you could personify visually art while listening to jazz.  The art came alive visually and I could hear the notes played while looking at each mixed media piece.  Some where direct paintings while others where well executed collages of images from our pop-modern culture complete with modern day icons like Marilyn Monroe and other supermodels.  The work was fun, whimsical, powerful and just exciting to look at and perhaps take one one to place on a wall in your large Sarasota home bringing life into the house.  It's like he took his personal memories, poured them out of the "memory" drawer and created collages with them telling stories with each piece.  I would highly recommend going by saying hello and actually taking the time to talk with this amazing person as he has so many stories to tell of NY when it was New York.  He should write a book with the stories he was telling me.  I enjoyed my visit immensely and look forward to going back and talking with him again and seeing what new work he's created.  One thing I really respect about his work, it's not a repetitive style like so many successful artists get mired in.  Ten years later, there is no change which I find contra-indicative of fine art.  Artists should always explore new avenues, scary new ventures and change their work from style to style.  That is what art is - the exploration of the human journey and inner soul.  His work certainly captures that.  Here is a you tube video that sums his work up.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrPrVBoGZqw

Figure Drawing Post. Learning how to draw the figure better.

I have, thanks to a good friend, discovered an online school that will help students and professionals dramatically increase their drawing and design skills.  Here is their link.  http://www.cgma2dacademy.com Check these course choices out and see what you think.  Could be awesome for any artist that wants to improve their skills....

The AMAZING WORK OF TOM FLEMING

WWW.FLEMART.COM

Over the years of attending various comic/sci-fi fantasy conventions, I've had the priveledge of getting to know Tom Fleming.   Tom is one of my favorite Fantasy and Fine Art painters.  His figures and knowledge of human anatomy is apparent through his beautifully stunning works.  His figure paintings and sketches of women of comics has captured the attention of the international world of Fantasy Art and he is considered one of the greatest modern fantasy artists alive today.  His inspiration ranges from Frank Frazetta to Gustov Klimt and he somehow manages to marry the inspirations in his paintings with an almost genius method of color, tones and value ranges with stunning anatomical accuracy that in the end simply creates a beautiful painting.  His work has been featured on the cover of Heavy Metal magazine as well as dozens of various publications. Tom has painted covers & trading cards for almost every major publisher in the comic book industry and has illustrated for some of the most popular gaming companies in the world such as: World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering, and White-Wolf Publishing. He has won numerous awards in the Fantasy genre including FOUR nominations for the prestigious Chelsey Award!

In 2000 Tom landed a job as the official illustrator for the Jody Foster movie “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” with animation by Todd McFarlane. Since then, Tom has worked on movies & TV shows such as; “Stateside”, “Stay Alive”, “Surface”, “Major Movie Star”, "Super", "A Cinderella Story 3", "Smile as Big as the Moon"and the hit TV show “One Tree Hill”.  My personal favorites of his works are his elongated paintings of various "romantic styled" fine art paintings of women and men in various states of enlightenment and ecstasy. Check out some of his examples here....

From a post I put on facebook

Flipping through the channels, stopped at Pawn Stars because this guy was selling his life's collection of Star Trek (Signed) un-opened boxes of collectibles. All the pawn "stars" did was belittle him, call him a nerd 8 times (I counted), said he had to "grow up" several times and then totally underbid everything of what it's worth after insulting him and his Prius as if they are so "cool" with their tats and bikes and extreme obesity. They are such assholes I couldn't watch any more. They basically pressured the guy into selling the collection for a lot less than what it was worth which they always do apparently. I really don't like "Hateful" reality shows. I like shows like Oddities, face-off, DDD, etc because the people are nice and polite on the show. Whatever happened to treating people with respect?

• Kathy Wiedenman Hill, R.t. Shepherd, Matthew Crotts and 11 others like this.
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  James Champion I agree with you that they do belittle a lot of people that they show them dealing with. But you have to think from their side also they they are a business and need to make a profit also. I try mostly to pass on the show.

  Saturday at 1:29am via mobile · Unlike · 1
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  James Christopher Hill Of course they need to make a profit, at least a 30-50% markup which would be fair, but it's the way they talk to people and try to underbid them knowing it's worth a lot more. In Oddities, they usually know the value, tell the person the fair price a...See More

  Saturday at 1:41am · Like · 4
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  Sharen Mitchell I have to agree with you James. I watch both shows and Ame. Pickers also. After reading this I'm not watching Pawn anymore. I absolutely love Oddities for the very reasons you explained. They knew cuss well that they hit the jackpot with the Star Trek memorabilia, especially with the cons that run through the southwest. If anything they should've put him on speed dial and treated him like a VIP to get his friend's business. I think you just inspired me to search that episode and write a letter! There's a reason Marvel stock has skyrocketed in the last 5yrs, hipsters buy "nerd" glasses, the gaming & comic industry has seen a growth in interest from 20-40yr olds in the past 6yrs (this years PAX convention 3day passes sold out in 1wk) and sci-fi movies have been the hot button ticket for the past 4. Yea, they knew what they had and belittled that customer to steal it from him.

  Saturday at 7:24am via mobile · Like
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  Janet Millwater Iannantuono Actually I disagree. It is the way the pawn business works. If you want to get what your collection is worth, you don't go to a pawn shop. You sell it yourself on Ebay or get a booth at a Con. There is allot of risk in the Pawn business and that is the way they make their money. Pawn shops are just one step above the title loan companies. People who go there are usually desperate for money and that is where they get you. They are pretty upfront about it on not only this show, but on Hardcore Pawn and some of the other similar shows. The moral to the story is that the seller should do their research before putting their stuff up for sale. Hopefully in that respect the shows serve a purpose--If you want top dollar for your collection, don't go to a pawn shop or sell to a picker!

  Saturday at 9:06am · Like
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  Christopher Laserbeam LeBeau I have seen the show a bunch of times where the customer was asking for peanuts and they knew the item was worth a mint and paid a lot more. So it goes both ways. Now wether or not they did it just to save face on TV is questionable. I will say however, that the show is fake, and the actual pawn shop is nothing more than a reality show gift shop, feeding off the popularity of the show. Inside the actual shop on any given day, it is mostly cheap merchandise like Chumlee teeshirts and other assorted garbage. They sell most of the stuff they buy online.

  Saturday at 9:38am via mobile · Like
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  Lorna Anne Whetsell Oddities = A+ . . . I don't care for Shows that profit off of others misery. That is precisely what pawn shops do. People go there desperate, or they would never consider selling their prized possessions. (Been there, done that.) It is sad, really. And then, knowing they are desperate . . . the pawn shops take even more advantage of them. SICKENING!

  Saturday at 11:50am · Edited · Like
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  Janet Millwater Iannantuono Well, nobody twists anyone's arm to go into them or to sell their stuff. And is they insult your or degrade you , then you simply collect your stuff and walk out. We don't have a constitutional right not to be offended, we simply have the right to choose who we do business with.

  Saturday at 1:27pm · Like
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  Tomas Tillotson I met the crew from Oddities. Nice folks!

  Saturday at 3:32pm via mobile · Unlike · 2
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  Christopher Laserbeam LeBeau Pawn shops were the original banks, and probably a lot more honest and fair to this day than most banks...lol

  Saturday at 5:27pm via mobile · Like
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  Janet Millwater Iannantuono As a buyer you can get good deals from them!

  Saturday at 8:17pm · Like · 1
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  Christopher Laserbeam LeBeau That's true, and I have sold them a few things and gotten more than I thought they were worth. You just gotta use your own discretion, if you feel like you can get more, then walk away, no harm done. Don't even go in if you don't want to haggle, because that's the name of the game...lol

  Saturday at 11:36pm via mobile · Like
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  James Christopher Hill I love when I start conversations and controversial discussions, but this one is simple, I really wasn't bashing Pawn shops, some are descent, some do take advantage of desperate people and the point I was trying to make and some of you got it was that I don't like watching people being degraded for what makes them happy or put down or humiliated for the sake of "ratings" or just the sake of "fun" on the part of the person doing the insulting. It's not fun, it's not courteous, it's not right, it may be "legal" or "fair"; but in the end, I believe in the golden rule which funny thing, I don't hear too much any more......Do Unto Others as You Would Want Others to Do Unto You! Yes, the person pawing the Star Trek collection sealed his own "fate" by going to a pawn shop, but they could have simply treated him kinder. That's all I was really saying. Like Lorna said, profiting off of others' misery is not the way to live a life on this Earth and that is what most Reality shows promote even if it is "scripted" or "acted" it still promotes that kind of attitude toward your fellow person. This is a planet that is 7,926 miles in Diameter and it's getting smaller every day with more than 7 Billion people on the planet. We need to reignite the Golden Rule across the Globe and we can start with how we simply talk to people even if they do make not be the best choices. We can be helpful to desperate people. They didn't have to resort to insulting him or "belittling Star Trek fans" by calling him a nerd and telling him to "Grow up". The man obviously was being a real man and "Grown up" because he was selling his life's love of Star Trek so he could pay for his wedding for the woman he loved. He told them that, and they could have offered him more money is all I'm saying. They knew he was in a tough spot and they took advantage of that situation during these times of Star Trek mania and they knew that. Whether or not it was "real" - "scripted", whatever reality shows do; it still showed people being mean to someone that was being nice. There is a story I love to tell people about being fair and honest to the point of being "too" honest but the rewards can be STUNNING! ..... The story goes something like this, probably based on some Urban Legend, but I like to tell it..... An old woman was selling everything she could part with to try in desperation to keep her losing her house due to back taxes. One Saturday morning yard sale (she had a sale every week); a man noticed just a couple of "rusting" metal cookie tins with Japanese writing on them and art, etc. He noticed the price on them was $.50 cents each. He quickly bought both and went to pay her. He gave her the money, she smiled at him and he smiled back and told her "Good Luck with the yard sale". Something stopped him when he reached his car; maybe his conscience, God, whatever... He went back to the old woman and confessed to her saying "Ma'am, I can't give you $1.00 for these tins, in all honesty I believe they are worth over $5,000 each! He explained he was an international art dealer and knew antiquities and he believed these tins to be from the 1930's pre-war Japan by a famous artist. "Really?!?!" She said, "I can't believe that!!?! That's really funny, I have an attic FULL of those silly things. My Husband collected them when he lived there before the war ever started and went back after the war and bought more. He was obsessed with them for some reason." The expert made a deal with her on the spot, he would take 25% commission if he could take them to NY to sell at the major art auction houses. They agreed, she made over $1.5 million and saved her house. He made a lot too. All because he was honest. If he had taken advantage of her lack of knowledge or desperation, he would never have been privy to her entire collection and made both her and himself a fortune! A book called the Millionaire Mind (great book) has a philosophy about how to become rich if you are a broker or sales rep. If you strive to make someone else and not yourself rich, you, in turn will make yourself rich as well. Or more simply put, "The more money I make you, the more I make for myself" The story showed desperation turned into kindness, honesty, and wealth of unimagined good fortune. Oddities is a show where they seem to be having fun helping others get weird things and just like the Millionaire Mind shows, you build not only a business but a family with your customers and they have that with repeat business from some of the same people always coming back. I also loved Hollywood Treasures because it seemed Joe Montana had the same philosophy about helping people make money. It was also a nice reality show and fun to watch. BTW, AMAZING what some things are worth nowadays. But nothing is worth more than a kind word or a smile to a stranger.

  2 minutes ago · Like