Jim McVicker OPA

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 23 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 every day 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.