Artist Profile - The Artist Josef

I continue to be fascinated by the immense diversity of artists’ backgrounds. There is so much that makes up ‘an artist.” Every part of their life experience and training, their gifts, talents and so on.

 

Some are blessed to emerge when they are young, allowing them the luxury of decades of development and sharing their gifts. Others are constrained by life’s pressures and responsibilities, and sadly, never find the opportunity to share.

 

Then there are artists who, at a later stage of life, accept the opportunity to see where this passion takes them. 

 

I am such an artist.

My fervor for art and the creative process started when I was a child watching my grandfather paint. As a teen, I began to dabble in pastels and oils, but had to put them away to take on the responsibilities of adult life. 

 

An Aerospace Engineer by education from the University of Virginia, I have been helping people as a mortgage banker since 1989. My profession has also provided a living for my family of seven children. I am now also a doting grandfather of many, art-loving grandchildren. Geniuses all!

 

I lived many years through the common phases of marriage, child rearing and building a successful career. Yet, the yearning to paint was always alive in the back of my mind. Through those decades, I'd sit looking at my younger attempts, longing to pick up paint and brush again.

 

In 2013, in my early 50’s, business was built, our life was happy and the children were thriving.

 

Finally, it was time to resume my journey as a painter. I became immersed in the study of oils and acrylics, scenery, still life and people. This time, I had life-experience to enrich my work.