I am an Artist/Imagist. I have spent my entire life as an Artist. I am essentially self taught having had no formal art classes until High School art. I began painting as a child inTexas using paint by number sets. Using the extra and left over paints to mix my own colors, I painted on box lids or paper. I was constantly drawing and sketching in pencil and charcoal on any size paper or board I could get my hands on. In Texas I went door to door selling my work. The audacity of an 8 year old kid doing this. I used the money I made mowing grass to buy art supplies at the local hobby store. I continued to paint and draw on my own even after moving to Georgia. I worked at various jobs using the money primarily for art supplies but also for dating as I got older. I took the Art Class offered in High School and qualified for Governor’s Honors. I participated in the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program in Art my Junior year in High School. At 15 I interned in an Art Department for a Printing Company in Atlanta. At 16 I began to participate in Fine Art Shows in Atlanta and in the Southeast.

I studied Graphic Design at UGA receiving a BFA. I went to work as a Graphic Artist and Illustrator straight out of college and began my Professional and Fine Art Career in Earnest as well.

I am a Digital Artist, Painter, & Printmaker. Traditional Media Painter • Acrylic • Casein • Oil • Watercolor • Pencil • Charcoal
• Color Pencil • Printmaking: Dry Brush, Monotype, Serigraph, and White Line. I have been a printmaker for over 50 years and a digital artist for over 35. Over 65 years as a painter (age about 7) and photographer since I was a child, age about
8 or 9. Traditionally in printmaking, artists have been allowed to allocate up to 10% of an edition as Artist’s Proofs. I have never done that. For me, typically an Artist’s Proof has been an experimental piece. A prelude to an edition and then often just a one time image using printmaking techniques. As for making Prints, I therefore decided years ago to create only Artist’s Proofs in the future. My photographic images are not pure photography. They have not been so since the mid 1990’s. I am both a photographer, traditional retoucher and digital artist. I combine those artistic skills together.

Since about 2013 my health has been declining. I was given a terminal diagnosis in early 2016. I can no longer hold out to produce a print on an etching press or a serigraph. I can no longer work more than a few hours a day standing at the easel. Painting, drawing or painting at my computer have become difficult as well. In 2016, the size of my paintings began to be smaller. Being no longer able to stand and paint for an extended period of time, I am no longer creating large paintings ( 36” x 48”) and larger. In December of 2019, a miracle occurred in my life. Christ reached out and healed me of my terminal lung disease that I had fought since 2015. 2020 was the most productive year of my life as a Fine Artist. I will continue painting and drawing the rest of my life. In 2020, I changed from primarily working in Oil to working in Acrylic, Casein and Watercolor. The reason is the fumes and their affect on my breathing. Primarily my work is smaller than 16’ x 20”. However, with great Faith in my Future. I bought several 24” x 30” & 18” x 24” canvases for Christmas. I had a Heart Attack Easter Sunday 2021. After 4 Heart Surgeries I am happy to say that I am back painting and drawing. After the heart attack and surgeries, I finally agreed to move to the home my wife purchased in Monticello, GA while I was in Hospice Care. I moved in March of 2022. I will miss my home in Bent Tree and the North Georgia Mountains.I still use oxygen about 12 + hours a day. I have now been diagnosed with COPD, Emphesema & other heart and lung complications. My step is slowed. I walk with a cane or a staff with oxygen on my side, but I walk. I do yard and field work on my tractor & mower (a bottle of oxygen slung over my head.) Life goes on. These days I paint in my studio as well as outside (Plein Air) – attached to oxygen. I paint and draw from my enclosed porch looking across the pastures. In 2022 I began to paint the rural environment in which I now find myself. I drive around looking for inspirations in my truck or on my 4 wheel scooter with baskets for my oxygen generator and paints/canvas. Get out and take pictures, sketch or get out my Plein Air easel and paint. The seat swivels and I can sit and paint at my French Easel. All the while with my bottle of oxygen. I do not quit. My life goes on.

I have a renewed energy and lasting faith. I can now walk. I may not be able to play golf but I can paint. I no longer need a wheelchair. Praise God.

Thank you for your interest in my work.

Associate Member: AIS, AWS, GWS, NOAPS, NWS & OPA

May God Bless and Keep You. Thank You.

Robert Jorns