As a painter, I often ask myself where these images I paint come from. I think it started when I was only 5 years old or so. My family moved from the vibrant modernism of 1960’s Southern California to the isolated (but grand) Sandhills ranching community of Valentine, Nebraska. As a kid I thought this was so very wonderful – just like landing in a John Ford western.

In those hills I was exposed to the beauty, emptiness, and colors found living on a vast landscape. I learned the value and cost of hard work. I learned a bad day in those hills would become a story you would remember your entire life. Later I began seeking out old photos from the families of my friends, to help me capture those families, land, and the animals that made this life the essence of Americana.

I know the stolen moments of joy that come long days of hard work in landscape far bigger than you, when you look up from the post hole you are digging and gaze across a 1,000 acres. Today, I am so very aware of the people, just over my shoulder, that laid the foundation for the life I live today.

As an artist I still have so much to learn, but every painting moves me forward in ways I could never predict.       – T.J.