Life’s journey—so far—has taken this issue’s cover artist Jim Seitz on quite a ride. Born in Chicago and raised in Texas, Jim’s work as an engineer in the “oil patch” took him to Iran, New Guinea and Borneo. Now living in Mandeville with his wife, Connie, Jim’s approach to art has also taken a remarkable journey.

His artistic talent showed as early as the third grade. “I had every kind of how-to-draw book,” he says. “I could draw every type of tree down to the bark.” His art became more serious while attending Stephen F. Austin State University, where he was hired to prepare medical illustrations for the science department. Professors asked him to do illustrations for lectures and textbooks, and also for exams. “I became very popular around mid-terms and final exams because I’d do most of the illustrations for them, too.”

Work as an oil company field engineer during the 1970s took Jim through exotic locales and cultures. He often spent months in primitive areas far away from the comforts of home. One assignment was to Iran in the days before the Islamic Revolution. In the process of trying to find places to drill exploratory wells in one of the country’s mountainous regions, Jim spent a lot of time in an area dominated by Bedouin sheepherders. “Iran was such a difficult place to live, but at the same time, it was the cradle of civilization.”

Artifacts from his travels are on display in Jim’s office, including one fierce-looking knife in a decorative sheath. The knife was a gift from a local patriarch. “Every Bedouin has a blade, and this was his. He told me his great-grandfather traded two sheep for it. His job was to stay in the village and protect the women while the men herded sheep.” Jim did a drawing of the Bedouin; it hangs on the wall in his office. That drawing—and another in his office of a New Guinea tribesman—is a perfect example of Jim’s early talent for documenting the small details in a subject to make an illustration come to life.

As he has traveled and the years have passed, Jim’s art has also gone on its own developmental journey. He explains: “Part of how a person views art and life experiences has to do with the personal experiences and things they’ve done over the years.” And over the years, Jim has transformed his artistic focus. Rendering comprehensively detailed illustrations became artistically less satisfying. “Getting too deep in detail actually took the fun out of the art,” he explains.

About three years ago, Jim began taking a free-form approach to his art, both technically in his painting methods and mediums, and also in the way he chooses the subjects to commit to canvas. Rather than reproduce a scene, Jim now aims to convey the feeling inspired within him by his observation or memory of a place at a given moment of time.

This issue’s cover painting, “Blustery,” is typical of the techniques and mediums that have come to define Jim’s signature free-form landscapes. Layered colors in acrylics over a gold leaf foundation define the foreground and horizon, the horizon line being the only straight edge in Jim’s landscapes. Trees on the horizon form a distant destination. The whole scene is bathed in warm light, despite the billowing clouds blowing overhead that give the painting its name.

Memories of the places Jim visited during his travels in the Middle East and Southeast Asia influence his art, but the story behind “Blustery” does not concern those exotic locales. Jim and Connie have lived on the northshore for 18 years now, and have spent the last four of those years creating a haven for themselves and their guests in a comforting home on the golf course in Beau Chêne. A prominent feature is the sun room in the rear of the home that faces one of the fairways; the open space behind the house allows ample light to stream through the room’s soaring windows. This is where Jim paints, “from the time the sun comes up ’til dusk; I only paint in natural light.”

Getting back to our cover painting, Jim tells the story: “It was a ‘blustery’ spring day. I was looking out over the golf course; there was still a little nip in the air and a good breeze. There were very few clouds. If you stepped into the painting, you could feel the warmth of the sun on your back. I painted what I felt—not a fairway on a golf course.”

A piece titled “Beyond Time” proved to be a great illustration of how subtle elements combine to have differing impacts on viewers. “At a showing this summer in the French Quarter, I was standing beside [it] and happened to overhear several people viewing the piece. One person said he knew exactly where it was—a river he had seen in Oregon. Another said it was a coastal scene with cliffs and waves lapping the coast, and another said it reminded him of a gorge in Arizona.” Jim was delighted. “When I painted it, it was from a vague memory of a river I crossed frequently in Iran. This is what I am striving for, and with time hope to get better at.”

Danny Saladino, who represents Jim, describes his works’ appeal. “People love Jim’s work because he creates subtle elements in a simple palette, yet all these subtle elements combine to create a larger impact in the piece as a whole.” Saladino represents many local artists, including past Inside Northside cover contributors Robert Cook and Garland Robinette. Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of Saladino’s Horizon Gallery on Royal Street. He’s looking for a fresh start on the northshore, and in that spirit has opened gallery nu in Covington.

Jim Seitz’s work can be seen locally at gallery nu, 401 N. Columbia Street in Covington, and online at www.hibllc.com. Also at seven-o-seven contemporary; Santa Fe, NM; (505)983-3707 and at www.seven-o-seven.com.