Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Weedlun.
Hi Tim, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in suburban Denver and have always been drawn to creative careers. Of course, since practically everyone else on the planet is drawn to them as well, it’s a major challenge to eke out a living in such competitive fields. I was lucky in that my first job out of college was as an advertising copywriter. It was creative and it paid well, but there was only so much excitement you could muster for products like fan belts, radiator hoses, and hog scraper paddles (don’t ask).
Copywriting by day allowed me to pursue another of my interests—acting—by night and on weekends. Stockpiling experience in enough shows, I eventually mustered the courage to move west to try to catch my big break in Hollywood, first as an actor, then as a screenwriter. When those dreams didn’t pan out, I went back to school at UCLA to see if there was a way to capitalize on another of my interests—art. Around the time I was finishing up with a computer graphics degree, I met the man who would eventually become my husband and we moved to the Washington, DC, suburbs where I worked as a graphic designer.
Though I’d been painting since college, I started taking classes again beginning in 2006 and was lucky enough to cross paths with a charismatic instructor, Glen Kessler, who eventually opened up his own art school, the Compass Atelier in Rockville, MD, where I was one of his first guinea pig students to go through a comprehensive 3-year program that focused on the traditional, technical skills taught in ateliers of the past that have been sadly neglected by most art schools since the mid-1950’s. Glen facilitated fantastic, intensive workshops with such leading masters as Gavin Glakas, Duane Keiser, Alyssa Monks, Steven Assael, Cindy Procious, Wendy Artin, and Tina Garrett. Armed with the knowledge they imparted; I acquired the confidence to tackle pretty much any type of painting style there was. The problem now is trying to resist the temptation to tackle them all! There are always interesting new things to try.
My husband and I moved to San Diego in 2019, and I snatched up one of the available artist studios at the Studio Door Gallery in Hillcrest. In addition to interacting with the 15 other studio artists, I have had the pleasure of meeting and learning from the exhibiting artists in the gallery as well. It is one of just a few artistic hubs in the city, and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it.
Though abstract expressionism tends to reign on the West Coast, I feel there’s a place for figurative realism as well and I hope to connect to patrons who share my affinity for it. Artists are always evolving and I’m currently exploring ways to give realism a sort of abstract expressionistic twist.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What would the creative world be without its enormous hurdles and obstacles and rejections and steep learning curves and painful setbacks? I don’t know of many who just effortlessly glide their way to success. The biggest heartbreak for a creative person—be they an actor, musician, novelist, painter, etc.—is that they can do exceptional work, but that work goes unrecognized because it gets drowned out by the relentless and ever-growing competing noise. I find it very sad that there are unknown actors out there better than Meryl Streep whose performances we will never see. There are composers better than Stephen Sondheim whose music we will never hear. There are painters more innovative than Picasso whose paintings will go unsold. These unknown creatives all have the skills, if not even better ones. What they lack is being in the right place at the right time.
Regarding painting, the internet, to some degree, has democratized the playing field. The gatekeepers who conferred success in the past—critics, gallerists, museums, wealthy collectors, etc., do not have the same tight control they once did. Unfortunately, human nature tends to seek validation though numbers, and thus the internet becomes a new arbiter of worth that’s determined more by Instagram likes than by actual talent.
The lack of advocacy or support can be devastating to the creative person, and many give up on their career because of it. The important thing to remember is that having the ability to make something grand out of nothing can be its own reward. Having others compensate you for your efforts is wonderful, of course, but if you are driven to be a maker (and if you are a true creative, you SHOULD be), you can find other ways to be compensated and, in your free time, take pleasure in the act of creating.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Though I move around from very classical-style chiaroscuro still lifes to wacky, imagined movie posters to Pop Art-style renderings of figures to majestic landscapes to texturized experiments with animals and Hollywood personalities, the common ground all of these paintings share is a starting base in my realist training.
I love vibrant colors. Any one canvas of mine is usually supersaturated with at least one particular hue in all its tones. If not, I always try to find a way to place at least one small dot of saturated color into an otherwise subdued composition.
I love paintings that have some dramatic narrative or sense of movement. If I can get something to swirl, I’ll do it.
I love to paint things of beauty, which include people I find beautiful. I also like to explore the unexpected beauty that can be found in an ordinary object when given the glamor treatment of theatrical lighting.
In keeping with creating art about the things I love; I’m planning on developing a series of digital art posters of this city that I love—San Diego—done in the colorful style of the great mid-century commercial illustrators.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
I am indebted to my wonderful yet prohibitively expensive Adobe Creative Suite software. As it is, my paintings can take a long time from start to finish. Programs like Photoshop help me generate topographic value maps or pinpoint specific colors that the naked eye may not be seeing correctly. Those two functions alone save me an enormous amount of time. I also use Adobe products to work out compositions or edit reference photos before paint ever touches canvas.
As far as inspiration goes, I am always learning from seeing the work of fellow artists and their efforts to show us something brand new. I take in all of the San Diego ArtWalks. Going to the Sawdust Festival during Laguna’s Pageant of the master is like being a kid in a candy shop for me.
I would say the most inspirational art book I ever came across was “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. People who are convinced they have no artistic talent at all should read this book. Learning to draw is not as hard as you would think.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.timweedlun.com
- Instagram: tbw.art
- Facebook: Tim Weedlun Art
