It still intrigues Jerry how fine art has captivated him since he was a child, even though he had no real exposure to it. When he was growing up, his parents' home didn't have any original artwork on the walls, and he didn't have the opportunity to visit a museum and see fine art up close. His interest in art was never seriously encouraged. With his dad being a laborer and his mom a homemaker, Jerry was encouraged to pursue a lucrative career such as engineering. A career as an artist was never mentioned, yet Jerry knew that something about art just wouldn't let go of him. He would find himself studying for long periods of time some of the inexpensive art prints that hung in his home, or maybe he'd spend hours sketching with just a graphite pencil and notebook paper. Whatever it was about art that haunted him, it has been with him from as early as he can remember.

As he had been encouraged to do, Jerry did pursue an engineering career. That career led him from Pampa, a small town in the Texas panhandle to Tulsa, Oklahoma during the early 1980's. The oil business was booming and work was easy to find at the many engineering companies located in Tulsa. But only three years later, the oil business was in a slump and many workers, including Jerry, were laid off. Finding work during that time was almost impossible, so he decided to take advantage of his free time by enrolling in art classes being taught locally. Those classes, however, did more than fill time. They rekindled his interest in art, causing him to reassess his decision to go into engineering. 

Jerry then made a decision that would change the course of his life. Once the job market came back, he continued to work in engineering but only to provide the means to study fine art. While continuing his studies in Tulsa, he enrolled in workshops in Scottsdale, Arizona and also in Taos, New Mexico, studying with such notable artists as Paul Strisik and David Leffel. He also applied for and was accepted into Richard Schmid's "Master's Workshop." During this time he built a small studio at his home, where he could paint still lifes and refine his drawing skills by drawing models from life. All of his landscape paintings were done "en plein air" using his French easel. Eventually he reached a level of confidence in his skills, gathered the courage to quit his engineering job, and began devoting his time, talent and resources to a career in fine art.


Jerry chooses to paint realistically but with loose brushwork. "My work can be taken at face-value. I don't try to tell a story with my paintings, nor do I use any type of symbolism. I don't like the viewer to have to play mind-games trying to understand my work. Viewers do have to participate, though, and I'll explain why:

"I was visiting a show at the Gilcrease Museum and was admiring a still-life painting that contained a single flower in an amber colored glass. From a distance, it looked three-dimensional. I don't mean that it looked like a photograph. I mean it looked "real," as if I could walk up to it and lift the flower out of the glass. As I walked closer to the piece, the three-dimensional qualities of the flower and glass disappeared and became pieces, even globs of paint on the canvas. As I slowly backed away, once again it almost magically morphed into the three-dimensional elements that I had seen earlier. It was truly like magic, and it fascinated me. That is why I say that viewers have to participate in my paintings. Their mind provides the three-dimensional quality to the work if I've done my job correctly. It is for this reason that I tend to use loose but deliberate brushwork, so I can achieve that same effect in my work."

"Though I paint various subjects such as figures and still lifes, I tend to paint more landscapes, probably because I simply enjoy the outdoors. And when I paint landscapes, I try to not select my subject, but rather let it present itself to me. All of the elements of outdoor painting such as the light, surroundings and weather can team up to create some dazzling effects that literally grab my attention, almost demanding to be painted. If I go out with a preconceived idea of, say, painting a stream with rocks lining its edges, more often than not I'll come home disappointed. But if I go out with an open mind and with just the intent of enjoying what I see, those are the times I will most likely find something that makes a great subject for a painting".


Jerry's artwork is well accepted and sought after for many private collections across the country. He paints full time in his Tulsa studio and travels several times each year to various locations around the United States.

Best of Show Award for 2 Dimensional work, 2010 NatureWorks Art Show, Tulsa, OK

 

Best of Show Award, 2008 NatureWorks Art Show, Tulsa, OK

 

Solo Exhibition "Color and the American Landscape", Gallery KH, Chicago, Illinois, October 2008