I have always been an artist, painting in acrylic, watercolor, pastel and now oil with cold wax medium. I have led a long
and successful career in sculpting in stone with my pieces on show around the country. My focus is now abstract art and photography.
I picked up a camera for the first time in 2017 when I retired from my medical career as a nurse practitioner specializing in emergency pediatrics in Santa Barbara, CA. I took up photography so I could have a portable art medium rather than bring all my paints etc. on our camping trips around the country. I instantly fell in love with photography due to the many possibilities of composing a photograph as in a paintings striving for simplicity, color harmony, composition, light and contrast.
I am self-taught in photography and painting with a few workshops under my belt. I love both the painting and photography mediums and I often combine my photography with my paintings as inspiration or incorporate them together in collage.
I have come to love the complex simplicity and the light of the desert. I find inspiration for my art expression from the beautiful
sunrises, sunsets and abundance of clouds during monsoon season. I also love photographing flowers with my close-up
camera lens and try to capture a vision of a flower that a person does not usually expect to see, a new way to see a flower.
When I go to photograph at the rodeo grounds, I try to find a photo that reflects a special moment in time for either the horses, riders or the spectators.
I once photographed a bronco rider kneeling in prayer before his ride, that’s the type of photograph I love to capture.
My interest is oil on canvas and primary landscapes, rustic buildings, and domestic and wild animals.
I’m self-taught having spend considerable time with online tutorials. I live in Wickenburg and find tons of inspiration from the surrounding area.
I sign my name as Tavarozzi on honor of grandparents (Anything and Mary Tavarozzi) who Immigrated from Italy.
Thanks
Jim Tavary (Tavarozzi)
Mainly self-taught, art has been such a joy to me on and off over the past 85 years.
Oils, oil pastels, acrylic and now colored pencil and pastels have played a part of my progress.
Animals have always been my first passion with portraits coming in a close second.
In 2018, I started an adventure using feathers as my support with acrylics, after a friend gave me a print of a feather painting of a wolf.
In late 2022, another friend started me down a new path with colored pencils and pastels.
Now I spend many pleasant hours immersed in pursuing these lovely mediums along with my feathers.
It has been an added pleasure to enjoy completing commissions memorializing pets, people and events so important to all of our lives.
Please let me know if I can help you save a treasured memory for you.
After working for 20+ years as a computer programmer in the corporate world, I experienced a level of burnout
that left me longing for change.
My first foray into the art world was through the door of art-as-therapy. I studied with the late art therapist and
prolific author, Lucia Capacchione, PhD, ATR, and became a certified coach of her methods of
journaling and expressive arts.
My work with Dr. Capacchione created a profound shift from the predominantly left-brained computer geek
I had been, and awakened the more right-brained, creative artist that has been lying dormant
In me for my entire life.
As this new self emerged, I explored many mediums including acrylics, watercolor, pastels, colored pencil, mixed media
and collage.
After participating in a 3-D mosaic workshop with Debra Mater a few years ago, I immediately recognized
that I had finally found the medium my creative heart had been looking for.
I enjoy reusing old discarding jewelry, semi-precious stones, tile, glass, beads, buttons, and other
trinkets to create my mosaic pieces. I build connections through color, shape, theme and texture.
I blow the dust off thrift store cast offs and bring them back to life with new sparkle and shine.
I delight in creating playful and imaginative birds, animals and insects.
My work is sometimes whimsical, sometimes mystical and often grounded in nature and the divine feminine.
My works have a distinguishable look with many strong colors and textures. Many of my compositions are anchored with geometric shapes and lines, creating both balance and tension. In addition to painting my non-objective art pieces I also enjoy painting abstracted portraits, creating modern collages and mixed media. I enjoy creating prints with modern and old printmaking techniques.
My work has been exhibited in art galleries and organizations throughout Germany and the United States. My art was also featured in “Project 26” with Theater Arts West and the Playwrights and Artist Series II, and the See Me Gallery. I am represented at the Finer Arts Gallery In Cave Creek, AZ.
Looking back at my life and the elements that have defined me, the one thing that stands out above all others is the deep-seated need to express myself through art. Art and the process of creation is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing that fills my mind at the end of each day.
As an essentially self-taught artist, I have been able to find my own truths and artistic paths along the way. I am naturally curious and fervid when it comes to understanding new techniques, making the self-learning process a challenge I enjoy.
Today, I continue with a concentration on the use and application of the many creative software programs that advance creativity, such as digital and original paintings and mixed media collage art. I have found that having a comfort level and understanding of the computer and its sophisticated software has provided an added opportunity for artistic experimentation and problem-solving.
Through the years, I have studied printmaking, drawing, painting, and graphic design, and I feel fortunate to have had a very successful career in that extremely competitive field. While art is by nature intuitive and emotive, my process is quite straightforward. I approach each new piece knowing that it requires a correct set of elements bound together with creative resolve, with the ultimate goal being a perfected visual exposition. I am experimental to a considerable degree, but my guiding goal is to create with a combination of intuition and a clear sense of artistic balance.
I am a recent transplant to Arizona, and I love it! I have always lived “up north” and worked in several different genres that mostly represented the area in which I dwelled, but I have always been drawn to the art and warm colors of the Southwest.
This move has inspired me to experiment with a new genre – metal embossing. By using various metal foils such as copper, aluminum and brass, I emboss them with a multitude of patterns using a rolling press, and color with alcohol inks.
Once dried and stabilized with a protectant coat, I then cut them into various sizes and shapes to achieve my design.
The mosaic pieces are somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle – I quit to design it and make sure all the pieces fit perfectly. Some of my work will incorporate leather and glass tile beads to achieve a multi-dimensional look.
“Art is spiritual for me and brings me a great fulfillment , which I hope is reflected in my work.”
