I didn't work on art much when I was a child. I do remember enjoying 4th grade art.  I also remember doodling incessantly and my sixth grade friend calling me "Picasso" because of my doodles.  My doodling infuriated some teachers. Moreover, my drafting teacher in 8th grade became angry when I free handed everything. That kind of confused me because I was mimicking Leonardo.  It earned me a charitable "C." As my friends know, I continue to doodle incessantly today.

When I was in my early 20s, I became very interested in visual art.  First of all, a girl I was dating at the time bragged about a Starry Night van Gogh poster that some guy owned, and I was jealous of the guy, so I then decided to paint it myself someday.  Soon thereafter, I was fascinated with a charity art auction run by my good friend, Hugh Rose.  I was fascinated too with his friend's art, a man named Roger Debnar.  Roger painted very representational works:  Buildings, trains, spaceships, the moon, and other concrete things.  He was awesome.

I further became very interested in visual art when I worked at the IRS of all places.  I did a stint there when I was between jobs and ran across a very colorful man named Jim.  Jim had majored in art at UC's DAAP, drew and painted on the side, and would bring in very large art  picture books to read at break time.  Thanks to Jim, I delved into reading all about the Masters as well as staring at pictures of their works.  I became especially fascinated with Paul Cezanne.  I spent hours studying his works.  When I grew a beard Jim said, "So, you are trying to look like Cezanne now?"
 
I decided to try my hand at painting that year in 1992.  My mom and dad bought me paints and brushes for Christmas and my dad gave me a brief lesson on how to mix colors and paint.  The first painting I completed was of a green face on a piece of art paper.  My mother in law looked at it with intrigue and asked the meaning of the green face.  I said, "It means nothing, I just like green." 

With my new paints and brushes I mimicked a Cezanne (in my works).  I took it in to show Jim at the IRS.  Jim could be verbally abrasive at times.  He looked at it, acted sort of jealous, looked at it again, asked me who did it, on and on.  Finally, after a lecture about how we should do our own work, not mimic others, he smiled a wry smile while popping the gum in his mouth and said, "That is awesome."  It is one of the greatest compliments I have ever received.

Also during that time I read two novels that impacted me greatly:  "My Name is Asher Lev" and "The Gift of Asher Lev," by Chaim Potok.  Chaim Potok is one of the best writers I have read.  His books often deal with the conflict between a very hard line orthodox Jewish view and the view of a person who chooses to believe differently.  In these two books his character is Asher Lev who becomes a world renowned artist.  I learned so much about art by reading these two novels;  I re-read them regularly.

Over the next few years, I drew and painted, totally self taught, and painted Starry Night to spite my old girlfriend and the guy with the poster (in works)!  Ironically, my daughter owns the painting and is now about the same age of my old girlfriend.  

In 2006, a great friend of mine named Rick asked, "Why don't you study with someone?"  That sounded like a good idea and I sought out classes.  Searching on the internet, I happened upon an ad in a Cincinnati City Beat about a class taught by artist Greg Storer-- www.gregstorer.com --and studied with him for two years.  I am currently studying with other great artists at the Art Academy of Cincinnati,  www.artacademy.edu

Please look over my works, and drop me an email! Joe@JoePearceArt.Com

I bid you peace,

Joe Pearce