Watercolor artist, writer and teacher Jim Chapman combines a love of being outdoors with
painting – often very fast painting – due to mosquito swarms, rain, lightning, rough-looking dogs and
chatty bystanders. He does this because nothing beats the ‘being there’ feeling you get from an
on-the-spot sketch that really works. That sense of immediacy is the pulse of his creative drive,
whether he’s writing or painting.
Jim is a former newspaper columnist, illustrator, graphic designer and billboard artist. His column, “Back Porch,” ran in several Georgia newspapers from 1999-2006. In 2003, he released a book of columns The Call of the Wild Wasn’t Long Distance. He also served as a contributing editor for The Artist’s Magazine and wrote for Artist’s Sketchbook.
He was formerly the presentation editor for The Times in Gainesville, Ga., as well as a staff artist and writer at The Tennessean in Nashville, Tn. Prior to The Tennessean, he was planetarium artist at The Sudekum Planetarium at the Cumberland Science Museum (Now Adventure Science Center) in Nashville, where he helped write, illustrate and produce educational shows that have been sold to more than 100 museums and universities worldwide.
In the 1980s, he designed and painted billboards in Athens, Ga.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Jim’s adventurous spirit has led him to any corners of the world, including West Africa, Europe, Mexico and even a stint on a remote oil rig in Texas.
An avid watercolor artist and teacher, he has exhibited with the National Watercolor Society, among other venues. Jim holds a BFA Drawing/Painting from the University of Georgia. He also attended the Graphic Design department’s program for two additional years and won the Mary Rosenblatt Scholarship for art in a juried competition.
Today, for his “day” job, Jim is Senior Copywriter at Morton Vardeman & Carlson, in Gainesville, where he helps clients develop visual and verbal communications for websites, exhibition spaces, print and broadcast projects.
Click here see media coverage of Jim over the years.