2012年9月23日星期日

Jamie Carey-Humphreys

Society places a lot of value on formal training and education, but there is something to be said for a self-made career. Photorealistic painter Jamie Carey-Humphreys began painting at age 8 when her parents gave her a set of oils but had no formal training in art until well into her adult life.

"It was fantastic," she said, remembering that first set of paints. "The smell, the texture of the oils. … I've always had a love for oils. Through school, I just kind of copied out of books" to develop technique.

Carey-Humphreys, who owns a vineyard in Fulton with her husband, has had several paintings in shows in Columbia and said, "I'm a Columbia girl — definitely a Columbia girl. Even though I live in the farm out in Fulton, my heart is in Columbia." Her "Jack of Spades" painting, depicting Jack Nicholson exhaling a spade-shaped smoke ring, is now in the Columbia Art League's "House of Cards" exhibit. She also recently discussed her tiger-themed artwork — inspired by the University of Missouri's mascot — with a Callaway County Public Library audience as part of the communitywide One Read program.

Her independent originality is a family trait.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, "My mom was crafty; my dad's artsy," she said. Her father, now retired, was a sculptor and cowboy so authentic his description evokes almost tangible smells of leather and aromatic pipe tobacco. He sculpted American Indian and Western legends and sold them.

"My dad was a cowboy. He was a horse whisperer. He left home when he was" about "13 and started working in stables in Kansas City — never finished high school. He worked horses all his life, and he was a professor at William Woods" University "and started their Western program. He didn't even have a degree," she said, mentioning that the program was the first in the nation to grant a four-year degree in equestrian studies.

Growing up on the farm allowed Carey-Humphreys and her two elder sisters to live out one archetypal young girl's dream — riding and caring for horses. In addition to that, the world came to her door in the form of students who boarded their horses in the family stables. "Mom always had the kitchen doors open; they were always in there having breakfast, and they taught me math. I just hung out around college girls because they were at their home away from home," she remembered.

Throughout much of her adult life, Carey-Humphreys neglected her skill. Fourteen years ago, she began a new marriage — and picked up painting again, in addition to nurturing her son and three stepsons. She also decided to work toward a college degree. She enrolled at WWU and received a scholarship but lasted just one semester because of demands on her time: She and her husband were running a Dairy Queen at the time, and she was helping care for a family member with cancer.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, "But it was fun," she said. "I was such a good student. … I liked how your brain just really works after you get it going, like a muscle."

Jane Mudd and Terry Martin, art professors she encountered at WWU, "are just awesome," she said. "I'm what you call a photorealist, so I'm real tight. When Jane paints,We offer mining truck system, she throws it on there, and she used to say, 'Throw that paint on there and worry about the details later.' She would teach me to relax a little bit."

When asked about how she approaches her work, she sat thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "I'm going to explain it this way. Sometimes I don't understand what I do," she said. "I know that it is a gift that God gave me. So every painting that I start I pray over because this is God's gift to me. I invite him to walk me through the whole journey, and it is a journey.

"First of all, oil-painting is layers," she explained.Buy Natural china glass mosaic Tiles online with our price beat promise. "You've gotta get the paint on, and then you've gotta layer. My favorite is portraits. I love doing portraits. I always do the eyes first because if you don't get the eyes, you might as well not go on. Once you get the eyes, and they are their eyes, then you can build around it. It's just layers and layers and layers."

Beyond not being taught formal style elements and technique, a challenge for self-taught artists — or any artist, really — is that of getting work into the world. As far as getting shows in area galleries or a bit further afield, Carey-Humphreys said, "I just don't know how to go about doing that. I'd like to get into some of the art galleries here, but I'm just now trying to market myself, and that's probably the hardest thing you can do," adding that she would like to find someone to design a website for her.

It's also difficult to balance time and economic concerns with creating art. "I tried to have a year off just painting. It was hard," she said,Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, and explained she came up with the solution of establishing her own cleaning business. "It's good work, and you exercise all day long. I clean so I can paint. … It's nice being my own boss."

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