At Home With Jimbo Bailey

Thank you for The New Palette Magazine, issue #73.  They are truly the best.  We have communicated in the past and I so appreciate the article about my studio in issue #61.

One of the things I feel most appreciative about it that The Magazine always inspires me and during this difficult time of self-isolation due to that awful virus.  And I have my studio to go to each day to do creative things.  At 87, I know how fortunate that is.

During this time, I have continued experimenting with artistic ideas and I enjoy doing artwork that may be considered rare or unusual.  My latest innovation was to paint a subject that would have the appearance of a stained-glass window.  In the past I actually made several leaded and glass windows.  My interest was developed way back when I was in my late 20's when I had the great fortune of assisting a very well-known Swedish Artist by the name of Einar Forseth at his studio in Bromma, Sweden.  It was during a very cold winter of 1960-61.  I found that making those widows was very difficult and time consuming.

So, I had this idea; Why not paint a scene on a typical 2 X 3-foot canvas that would have the look and feel of a stained-glass window?  After several weeks of trial and error, I finally was able to paint a simple scene of a lighthouse using acrylics thinned down like watercolors and I painted both sides of the canvas to give it the right effect.  I am happy with the result.  The two photographs I have included the front of my studio annex with what I call my window painting.  The second one shows that the painting has three lives, one with the sunlight on the painting and the middle one with the sun penetrating through the painting and then the last one that is backlit with an electrical light.  I find the middle example most interesting that when viewing from inside, for a period of about 2 hours in the morning as the sun rises, the colors are constantly changing due to the shadows from the tree leaves and branches.  This is the first time I have ever experienced a painting with moving colors like this.

I have reviewed this painting with several of my artist friends and the tell me that they have never seen this done before.  I hope you will find this painting idea interesting and if you should want additional information, I will be happy to provide it.

Sincerely, Jim (Jimbo) Bailey

1.  I will always enjoy the memory and experience I had years ago when I had an individual Artist Workshop session with Christopher Schink.