A Scene of Tranquility

by Maggie Bokobza

Cover Artist Jim Seitz

WHEN YOU FIRST ENCOUNTER a piece by Jim Seitz, you are immediately struck by the luminous quality of the work. At least I was. When I was growing up, one of his unique and remarkable landscapes hung above the fireplace in our living room. Just staring at it, you could lose yourself in the serene setting, hints of the gold leaf reflecting the flickering light of the fire. Today, one of his works hangs in the living room of my apartment in Paris, reminding me of home, while at the same time echoing the promise of the future in its silver tones and the slight glimpse of a river you can make out in the distance between the trees of the scene. The luminosity is thanks to Seitz’s application of gold and silver leaf in the foreground of his work. This technique, which has taken years to develop and master, allows him to achieve his unique landscapes.

Prepping a canvas for a piece can take weeks. Seitz generally likes to work with hand-stretched canvases, which arrive white and bare. “I apply molding paste to provide texture to the canvas,” he explains, which provides heft to the look of the acrylic paint. He will spend days applying coats of primer, modeling paste and sanding down areas for the application of the gold or silver leaf. Following the application of the metal leaf, Seitz uses as many as 20 thin layers of acrylic, blending the colors directly on the canvas rather than utilizing a pallet. This technique of blending creates a soft, almost ethereal, quality to the final image. “It’s like the canvas starts talking to me,” he says, of starting out on a new work. >>

Seitz will often be working on up to four or five pieces at the same time, which he says keeps him stimulated and inspired. Though he has had a few particular favorites over the years, he admits that often his favorite piece is the one he is working on at the moment. “It’s such a pleasure to see the final product,” he says, recounting how he still gets goosebumps when he finally finishes a piece and steps back to look at it.

Seitz refers to his style as a tonal minimalist approach to his subject matter. The landscapes that he conjures from deep within his own imagination, rather than a photograph, offer serene and pastoral images set against striking cloudy skies that have become his signature. The viewer is asked to participate in the work by “connecting the dots,” making them an active participant in the construction of the work. He explains his value approach to painting a scene. “I’m not specifically painting pine trees or palm trees, but when you look at it you think ‘That’s a tree.’” By allowing the viewer to participate in the creation of the image in their own mind, he is capturing their attention. This phenomenon is aided by the relatively large-size canvases he often uses, which allow you to become absorbed in the scene.

His passion started at an early age. “I fell in love with art in the 3rd grade,” he says. Growingup, Seitz would create ink drawings using a photorealist style, creating pieces to give to family and friends. In college, he continued his love of art, even working for the university by providing medical illustrations for the science department. When he graduated, Seitz set out for a career as a field engineer in the oil and gas industry. This provided his family with the opportunity to travel extensively, from the deserts of the Middle East to the jungles of Southeast Asia. On these adventures, he always traveled with a watercolor kit and ink pens, capturing the local scenes and landscapes around him. At some point, however, he lost his love for painting. Seitz says that it started to feel more like a task rather than an act of creative expression. He took a break from painting for several years before revisiting his passion, this time in his now distinctive modern style of tonal minimalism. Since returning, he has not looked back; his landscapes of altogether recognizable yet still imaginary locations are full of earthy tones and natural color pallets. Today, his pieces can be found in collections across the country and the world.

He clarifies the importance of evolution in an artist’s body of work. “My style now is different from my style 10 years ago, not better or worse, just different—if your style isn’t evolving as an artist, then something has gone wrong,” he jokes cheekily. In this same vein, he has some advice for those interested in buying art: “If you see an artist’s work and you’re drawn to it, buy it, because there is no guarantee the next time you encounter their work that it will be the same.”

One of his most memorable pieces, entitled Beyond Time, was an act of recreating an image from his memory. While working in Iran, in order to reach the oil fields of Agah Jari, he passed over a river. “From the center of the bridge, it just looked like this river lasted to eternity,” he says. This, coupled with the rich historical significance of the region, made it a deeply inspirational place. Many years later, having never taken a picture of the view, Seitz decided to try painting it from memory. Without thinking, he painted the image from his mind’s eye, working to capture the feeling that the place evoked. “Sometimes your memory is a lot bigger than the reality.” He laughs slightly to himself as he recalls the moment.

More recently, Seitz embarked on creating a series of pieces that feel closer to home. He decided to paint one tryptic and one diptych, each set representing one branch of his family tree. Though the pieces were composed as a unit, the works will hang separately in the families’ homes, with the individual canvases representing each of his grandchildren. “I hope they will be a family keepsake.”

Jim Seitz is represented locally by Armbruster Artworks Fine Art Gallery, 502 N. Columbia St., Covington, 985-630-6295. His work can also be found at Degas Gallery, 604 Julia St, New Orleans, 504-8269744; Huff Harrington Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and The District Gallery in Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as Pitzer’s Fine Art in Wimberley, Texas. You can find more information about Seitz and upcoming exhibitions at JimSeitz.com.