John Stillings
Artist: John Stillings
Genre: Realist, Some Abstracts
Media: Acrylics, Photography
Gallery: Art of the Olympians
His Art: [Coming soon.]
About the Artist
Stillings is a self-assured, self-deprecating man with a ready smile and a reverberating sense of humor. He is also one of those rare guys who’s in touch with his feelings and, conditioned by a 2½-decade career of world and Olympic competition, he’s not afraid to express them. He turned to painting and photography circa 2008 as outlets for the passion his Pacific Northwest surroundings inspire in him on a daily basis.
“I’ve been painting about three years now,” John related during the opening reception for his exhibition Steering Strokes on June 3, 2011 during Art Walk. “I was doing some contracting work for a woman who turned out to be an artist. She mentioned one day that she taught a class. Without hesitating I asked if she had room in it for me.”
The class turned out to be a workshop for mid-career artists, but rather than daunting the intrepid Olympian, it stirred his competitive juices. Not that he was competing against his classmates. Rather, their accomplishments stimulated Stillings to strive for excellence from within.
Under the tutelage of his art instructor and encouraged by his fellow artists, Stillings has attained heights in three short years that some artists never achieve. Yet, he recognizes that he’s still in the infancy of his artistic development, a factor which frees him to experiment for the moment with different genres and media. “Some of my paintings are real, some are representational, some are abstract. Knowing I wanted to give a window into the different things I can do and like to do, I put it all out there.”
He’s as eager as a boy on Christmas morning to try new approaches. “I don’t do the scientific method where I change just one variable.” One work will be acrylic on canvas and the next palette knife on panel.
Exhibitions. [Coming soon.]
Education and Accomplishments. [Coming soon.]
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.