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Wednesday, January 20, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Painting at Mach One
Jim Horsley is also notably
humble.
Correspondent
Horsley started painting
Sisters resident Jim eight years ago, though he
Horsley flew 120 combat has been sketching for most
missions in an A6 Intruder of his life. On a recent trip to
over Vietnam. He is a former visit his 92-year-old mother,
member of the Blue Angels, Jim was sorting through
a humanitarian, a husband, a boxes when he found one of
his earliest sketches,
a crayon drawing
completed when
he was in the first
grade.
It
was
a
Thanksgiving draw-
ing, he says, com-
plete with parad-
ing turkeys, and “It
wasn’t bad,” he said,
with a self-deprecat-
ing laugh.
As a Blue Angel,
Horsley spent
untold amounts of
time hanging upside
down at ludicrous
speeds, and notes
that this experience
photo proviDeD
helped him tremen-
“Peekaboo” depicts Pancho and cinder red, dously when learn-
rescued donkeys at Harmony Farm Sanctuary. ing to become an art-
father, an author, and a man ist. With a nudge from a les-
of abiding faith. He is also an son in the book “Drawing on
artist — and a good one — the Right Side of the Brain,”
though he won’t tell you that. by Betty Edwards, Jim’s first
For a man with a laundry step on the trail to becoming
list of accomplishments that a painter was a drawing com-
would make most of us blush, pleted by working it upside
By craig rullman
photo proviDeD
“Bliss!” is a 10x8 oil painting.
down. It was an old man carv-
ing three wood ducks.
Jim was so shocked and
pleased by the result he
couldn’t wait to show his
wife, Sonya, who was equally
amazed.
“As important as that prin-
ciple is in drawing,” he writes
in his book “A Different
Kind of Courage,” “I had an
opportunity to find that it had
broader applications.”
Though he had no formal
training in oil painting — and
as passion to serve others and
to create art grew in him —
Horsley signed up for a work-
shop at a Ben Franklin crafts
store.
“Which was totally unlike
me,” he says. “I didn’t even
have any materials. The
instructor came over and
showed me a few brush
strokes and that was it.”
He was hooked from that
moment on.
After the Navy, and a
career in commercial real
estate, Jim began his deep
commitment to humanitar-
ian causes, working with the
international Christian relief
organization World Vision.
This work sent him on doz-
ens of humanitarian missions,
from North Vietnam to West
Africa.
And it would be impossi-
ble to miss how these experi-
ences inform his paintings.
“I have to have a personal
connection to the subject mat-
ter,” he says.
After volunteering at
nearby Crystal Peaks Youth
Ranch, Jim has completed
many paintings of horses. He
says with a laugh, “If you’re
gonna live in horse coun-
try, you better learn to paint
horses.”
Horsley considers himself
a representational artist, and
cites as influences the artists
Richard Schmidt, John Cook,
and Tom Browning.
The pleasure Jim finds in
painting is also rooted in his
Smile,
Sisters!
We’re
committed
to your dental
health!
Exceptional Health,
Prevention & Aesthetics
Ben Crockett, D.D.S.
photo by craig rullman
Jim Horsley is an artist and a community volunteer.
Christian faith, and the idea, of accomplished paintings in
which he holds close, that his studio, there are people all
he is creating value for oth- over the world who believe
ers each time he finishes a Jim Horsley’s passion has
painting.
made a difference.
“I have a great passion,”
Horsley’s work is currently
Horsley says. “I work hard at on display at Sisters Gallery
it but it doesn’t feel like work, & Frame Shop, and his work
and I don’t like to not get it will be represented in the
right.”
Sisters Library Art Show, with
At the same time, he says, proceeds to benefit Harmony
after years of working hard to Farm Sanctuary. His paintings
properly order his personal can also be seen on his web-
priorities, “I have to be mind- site, www.jimhorsley.net.
ful of why I got into
it. My identity isn’t
what I do. I’m not a
Blue Angel and I’m
not an artist. I’m just
Jim. I have a pas-
sion and a purpose
for some things that
hopefully make a
difference.”
It seems fair
enough to say that
after a lifetime of
service and giving to
others, from water
projects in Senegal
to public speaking
engagements with
local school chil-
photo proviDeD
dren, and with a
growing portfolio “North Korean child” is a 9x12 oil painting.
SPRD SPRING CATALOG
Released February 1
Check out all of our upcoming
spring programs and start
getting registered!
SHOOTOUT 2
February 13&14
Come watch youth basketball
action at Sisters HS & MS!
Fundraiser for Sisters Basketball.
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REGISTRATION
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Call 541-549-2091 or drop by the offi ce.
1750 W. Mckinney Butte Rd. | 541-549-2091
View activities & classes and register online!
www.SistersRecreation.com
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