Jim Tyler almost always paints from photographs, and they’re usually ones he’s taken himself. Although it’s currently a matter of preference, Tyler first approached the method when it was practically his only option.
“I had a career in computer engineering, and the only time I had for art was later at night—right after work and after the kids had gone to bed,” Tyler told the Sun.
Trying to paint the perfect sunset at Avila Beach can be tricky when it’s past dusk and you’re already home for the night, but not for Tyler. Thanks to an almost lifelong hobby of photography, he’s never been short on his own photos to draw from.
“I have a stack of a hundred 12-inch-by-18-inch photos in my art room, and hundreds more on my computer,” Tyler said. “Photography has been an instant art fix for me when I didn’t have much time to paint. Taking thousands of photos over the years has really helped my composition skills too.”
“I’m always taking photos with the intent to paint them, I just don’t have time to paint them all,” he continued.
Some of the photos come from carefully coordinated shoots, while others are far more candid. Daybreak, Train to Chiang Mai, for example, was painted from a photo Tyler took of his son during a train ride in Thailand. As is with all of Tyler’s works, lighting is the key element to notice. The way Tyler meticulously captures the subtlest details of sunlight and shadow within the scene gives the painting a life of its own.
“Many people think of washed-out children’s portraits when they think of pastels,” he continued. “But with the quality of pastels and paper available today, the intensity of shadows, highlights, and color is just amazing.”
What Tyler admires most about the medium is how direct it can be, he said, as there isn’t any mixing of colors on a palette, unlike regular brush painting. While hard pastels and pastel pencils can be quite effective, Tyler actually prefers finessing soft pastels in order to perfect the smaller details in his pieces. It’s these intricacies that achieve the photorealistic sensibility most of Tyler’s pieces share.
“That’s where the intensity of pastels really shines,” he said.
But Tyler’s pastel creations aren’t simply a matter of imitation, he explained, when it comes to painting from photos.
“A great photo gives me a good head start for a painting, but I rarely try to reproduce the photo exactly. Photography makes the shadow areas too dark and the highlight areas too light, so the painting has to be adjusted in those areas,” Tyler said. “I don’t feel an obligation to paint every object in the photo or use the same colors either.”
This wasn’t always the philosophy Tyler held, he explained while describing the early stages of his painting career.
“I followed an arc with my painting where I became more and more realistic as I tried to master the medium. I got to a point where I felt like I could reproduce anything exactly,” Tyler said. “And then I had to ask myself, ‘Now what?’ I’ve been working on getting more emotion and movement into my art. It’s much more enjoyable than trying to reproduce a photo, and the artwork is livelier.”
Whether the subject is a stranger sitting alone in a café or the artist’s cat perched in his living room, Tyler enjoys painting life’s little moments. But he’s no stranger to painting vast landscapes as well, from the Caribbean shore of Tulum, to Yosemite’s Tuolumne River.
As for more local destinations, some of Tyler’s landscape subjects include Bishop Peak and Morro Rock. Participants of Tyler’s workshop at the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature on Saturday, June 8, will be able to learn some of his pastel secrets firsthand while painting Big Sur. Reference photos will be available, and the class is open to all skill levels, including beginners, Tyler said.
“It’s an easy medium to learn because it’s so forgiving. Mistakes can be easily brushed away,” Tyler said. “When I teach workshops, I think in terms of removing obstacles that would keep people from being successful. Don’t own pastels? Borrow mine. Don’t know how to draw? I bring a pre-sketched paper so that we can jump right into using pastels.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood would gladly accept pre-sketched paper to paint on. Contact him at cwiseblood@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 6, 2019.