Submitted photo

Jim Withee in front of several of his paintings, which are on display at Spark Collaborative Studio in downtown Burns. 

by Mary Kerns
Burns Times-Herald

This week, we are highlighting painter Jim Withee. 

You may be familiar with Withee’s work, as his paintings brightened the walls of the Harney County Courthouse for many years. 

His favorite subject matter includes forest scenes, desert landscapes, florals, and coastal vistas. He spends a considerable amount of time outdoors and never lacks for painting inspiration.

Withee has always doodled and drawn. When he was 13, one of his teachers introduced him to watercolors, sparking a lifelong interest in painting.

During Withee’s junior high years, art teacher Joe Hendry instructed his students in the building blocks of creating art, such as perspective, vanishing point, etc. This allowed Withee to pursue his interest in landscapes and buildings. In high school, Withee benefited from art teacher Frank Tuning’s professional knowledge of watercolors and other mediums such as acrylics and oils. Tuning also taught his students to construct frames for their paintings. Withee has built frames for his work, but it isn’t on his list of favorite things to do. He’d rather just be painting. 

After graduation, Withee honed in on painting with acrylics. He liked the fast drying and forgiveness of that medium. The ability to paint when he is on vacation, camping, or up at his cabin makes ease of transportation and sturdiness a necessity. 

Originally, as with most beginning artists, Withee felt compelled to add a lot of painstaking detail to his paintings. Using a lot of little brushes, he worked faithfully to add animal hair and fur, grass blades, and tree leaves to his work. One day, he was fortunate enough to enjoy a video of the painter Bob Ross, and everything changed. Ross did a lot of his work with a larger, 2-inch brush, and he used color, shading, and broad strokes to achieve his popular landscape paintings. This inspired another big step forward in Withee’s work. 

Currently, Withee continues his art education by watching some of artist Jerry Yarnell’s painting videos, and he is constantly inspired by the paintings of Thomas Kincaid. Withee said he doesn’t always know what a painting is going to be about when he begins. Starting with the sky, he lets whatever he’s interested in that day lead him along. 

Withee has shared his artistic abilities with others in Harney County by leading 4-H art groups.  He has taught 4-H members to draw, cartoon, and paint. He said his favorite 4-H activity was chalking a huge graffiti piece on the courthouse sidewalks.

When not painting or enjoying a quiet day at his cabin, Withee mows a lot of grass. Whether he’s helping an elderly neighbor or maintaining the several baseball fields in Burns and Hines, he is out there mowing and possibly thinking about ideas for new paintings.

You can view Withee’s work at Spark Collaborative Studios in downtown Burns, Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.