ABOUT | visualart

Jim Ringstad

Education: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BFA 1981;

Independent study with calligrapher / designer Kate Pagni, 1988.

My varied professional visual art experience has included color matching and ink mixing for custom printed fabrics; logo design, creating pen and ink illustrations of unique buildings/ offerings for a real estate firm; and illustrations /concept sketches for exhibits in a science center.

The Landscape is a hard to resist subject matter which seems expandable in terms of both technical and aesthetic concerns. A 2013 trip to Palo Duro Canyon allowed me to explore on site landscape drawing and painting to a greater degree than 'just passing through'.

I often work in other genres/disciplines- still life, portraiture and caricature, pattern and decoration, narrative /story telling illustration.

Palo Duro Canyon was formed by The Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River carving through the Caprock Escarpment. The canyon is located about 20 miles from Amarillo, Texas. Palo Duro Canyon State Park has many amenities, with hiking and equestrian trails, and is easy to reach by car. The town of Canyon, Texas is very nearby and is home to West Texas A&M. Georgia O' Keefe taught there (1916-1918), and often visited Palo Duro. Wildlife can be seen in the canyon- I have seen coyotes, eagles, and many different smaller birds. Plants include interesting grasses, yuccas, junipers, and prickly pear cactus.