Chaka Kahn – latest Fame-Wall Portrait

Chaka Kahn unveils Jim Warren Portrait

Cheeseburger in Paradise

While preparing for a show in Key West, Florida October 2009, I realized that I was entering Jimmy Buffet territory (Cheeseburger in Paradise).
I painted my visual version of this hit song during the show which I strongly believe is the first painting anywhere of a parrot surfing on a cheeseburger.

Imaginary Friends…website reconstruction

We just wanted to let everyone know that we were experiencing technical difficulties with Jim’s site at www.JimWarren.com but as of today, we are back up. The site is under construction so it will have a different look to it.  Sorry for any inconvenience or difficulty reading the print names.

You can click  www.JimWarren.com . If there are any problems you note, please let us know right away. You will not be able to access certain sections of the site like the Index, What’s New or Portraits. The Fine Art Catalog and Originals for Sale and Gift Shop are working.

In the meantime, if you are interested in any of Jim’s work, please email JimWarrenWCO@earthlink.net with your questions or for a photo of the image you are interested in. You may also  phone the studio at 800-975-9927

We wish you all a Peace-filled and lovliest of  Holiday Seasons!

Warren/Godard’s first collaboration painting sells for $45,000

"Heaven and Hell" - a work in progress. What will Godard contribute?

In the early 90s after meeting marine life artist Wyland, the two of us collaborated successfully on several paintings which are now considered “Classics” This year after seeing the art of Michael Godard, which features his crazy whimsical olive people, I had the idea to collaborate with him on a series of paintings. Our first, which we sketched out and announced while together at our gallery shows in Las Vegas, was “Commotion in the Ocean” which recently sold at the Wyland galleries of Orlando. The next collaboration we will be doing, which I am giving you a special sneak preview here of just my part, is titled appropriately “Heaven and Hell”.  What Godard does to finish his part is anyone’s guess, although I did give him a few suggestions. Stay tuned for the official unveiling.

Warren and Godard exchange ideas for their latest collaboration!

Happy Birthday Jim!

Jim’s favorite Birthday cake…white cake with fresh strawberries inside!

The priceless expression of complete satisfaction…white cake and strawberries just does it for Jim!

We had a wonderful show last Saturday here at Jim Warren’s West Coast studio in Portland, Oregon. Thank you to the many who attended and contributed your voice to singing the Happy Birthday song to Jim!

One of the highlights of the day was a special presentation by Portland artist, John Trimble. Jim has been an inspiration to this artist for years so John was thrilled that he would finally be able to meet Jim and thank him personally. But what wasn’t anticipated was what transpired when John arrived at the studio with a gift–wrapped “package”.

After  a group singing of Happy Birthday to Jim , John stood up and opened an envelope attached to the package. The enclosed card, which John had created just for Jim, was inscribed with the following words written by John: “Sometimes the most beautiful things come from seeing all of life’s imperfections, yet knowing we’re not alone in the search for something more meaningful in this wondrous place we live in.” then “You have been a huge inspiration to me as an artist. Your art has taught me that thinking outside the box and painting what we like, is just fine. Keep painting and inspiring Jim”. As you can imagine, Jim was extremely touched by John’s words.

John unwrapped the package and presented Jim with a beautiful painting he had created for and dedicated to Jim entitled Blessed Inspiration. You can see some great photos here. It was truly a magical moment. Jim is going to keep Blessed Inspiration hanging in his Portland studio so others can visit and view it. If you’d like to stop by the studio, just give us a call to arrange it.

And here we are with Thanksgiving week just ahead of us and Christmas and Hanukah a few short weeks from there. It’s almost hard to believe another year has almost passed. With that in mind, we, here at Jim Warren Studios, would like to help make your Holiday season as wonderful and stress-free as possible. We have many prints already in stock which can be framed and shipped to you or your loved ones in time for the Holidays. Give us a call or email. 800-975-9927 or JimWarrenWCO@earthlink.net And don’t forget to look at all of Jim’s work at www.JimWarren.com. There’s the Fine Art catalog which shows all the giclees available, the What’s New section and the Originals for Sale section too! Lots to look at.

John Trimble, Jim and John’s wife Becky

Rainbow Girl…Jim’s latest Fantasy Fest Inspiration

After a very long 8 days in Key West for the famed annual “Fantasy Fest”, Jim is home recovering. “Recovering” for Jim means being able to sit quietly at his painting table and create his works of art before leaving  for another show in Orlando last weekend.(and then to Portland, Oregon the weekend of the 14th for his West Coast Studio show). While in Key West, Jim completed the painting above, Rainbow Girl, while the 75,000 people who attended Fantasy Fest, paraded by.

Rainbow Girl was painted on a round canvas, something Jim rarely does. His use of black and white to accentuate the colors of the rainbow and it’s reflection on the waves and sandy shore shows some brilliant execution on Jim’s part. And the perfect little color on the woman’s lips that so simply defines her sensuality…excellent.

Jim is publishing Rainbow Girl in two sizes as Giclee canvas reproductions. The Original Oil is available for purchase also at a great pre-publication price. If you are interested in either, please contact the studio.

Jim’s West Coast Studio show in Portland, Oregon is on Saturday Nov. 14th from 1-7 pm. If you’d like to attend, call the studio for the address. 800-975-9927

Jim Survives Fantasy Fest 2009

"The Girls" with Jim(center) and Wyland(right)

I have been many places showing my art this past year and seen many things, from Rome to Venice to Las Vegas to New York, and now to Key West Florida during the craziest parade in America: Fantasy Fest.

Aside from the 75,000 people who pile into town to crowd this one famous street: Duvall St., here are a few highlights of my 8 days of art shows in the Wyland Galleries of Key West.

First, it is always my greatest pleasure to be able to spend quality time with my fans and collectors who come from many places to meet me. I was introduced to the famous artist Bill Mack whom I have crossed paths with in the art world many times but never met until now. I body painted for the first time in my life which is something I was always amused by since the 60s but had not yet done  since it was something I couldn’t sell afterward. (joke) (See the painted girls behind me in photo above).

And moving forward with my celebrity Fame Wall project.  I decided I might as well get started on the portrait that I will paint of the Beach Boys which will be unveiled in Hollywood  sometime in 2010. In fact, the Fame Wall video person who happened to be at Fantasy Fest,  taped me beginning the painting. Marine-life artist, Wyland also got his spot on the video wishing the “Boys” a Happy 50th Anniversary and “here’s to 50 more great years of music”.   The upcoming video will be played right before the unveiling of the painting which will be in 2010..

I then introduced my freshly painted “Surfer Girls of Fantasy Fest 2009″ to the camera who also wished the Beach Boys a “Happy 50th”.

My beginnings as an artist

While going through a very old pile of negatives from my childhood, my Mom dug up a couple oldies that I thought were pretty cute and interesting.

I forget sometimes that one of my early childhood dreams was to be a magician, years before I thought about being an artist. I did make many of my own magic tricks which I painted with magic-like designs.

I guess, besides crayon drawings in school, that was my beginning as an artist.

This picture below is me with my teenage “Hell with the rules” attitude.

I am glad that my teen kids don’t have an attitude like I did. I think it’s because I have such an adult ” Hell with the rules” attitude, they rebel by acting normal.

Woodstock…40 years later

I had just graduated high school and was two years into my career as an artist when this concert happened which featured much of the music that was an inspiration for my art. The concert was called “Woodstock“. The year was 1969.

Artie Kornfeld, the creator of the Woodstock music festival, has just released his first book (click for more info) telling the story of this historical concert on it’s 40th anniversary.

Artie, for those not familiar, wrote many of the classic songs of those times such as “Dead Man’s Curve” (with Brian Wilson), “The Pied Piper” and many others. He was also the Vice President of Capital Records for 12 years during the time I painted the album cover for Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind” record.

And more importantly to me, he was responsible for signing Seger to Capital which, had he not, my album cover would not have won the Grammy for Best Album Package 1980, nor would I have had the experience that taught me how to paint the horses which I had no clue how to paint at the time!

So I am honored to have my art used to illustrate this book about the greatest rock concert in history, told by it’s creator. (the upper part of the book cover is from my painting “Good Morning“)

But there’s a whole backstory of how I came to know Artie and how the book cover for “The Pied Piper of Woodstock” came to be.

My good friend Victor Kahn approached me with an idea over 11 years ago. Victor, a graphic designer and writer amongst his many other talents,  had been an admirer of my work.  He thought up the concept of using my images as a visual portrayal for his thought-provoking  spiritual poetry. Hence, The Great Illusions was born. To this day, that site has gotten over 2 1/2 million readers, introducing countless people to my artwork.

Ok, so how does this tie in with Artie’s new book cover? Well, Victor has known Artie since 1967 at which time Victor designed a logo for Artie’s pre-Woodstock venture that was named  “Kornfeld Lang Adventures“. The relationship grew over the years and fast forwarding to 2004, Artie asked Victor to design a new website for him. One solely dedicated to Woodstock. Victor could not get one of Jim’s paintings out of his mind. And that is how Jim’s “Liberty Lives’ came to be on the page of Artie’s site “We’ve all come to look for America”(by Paul Simon). And also how many of Jim’s other paintings came to be on Artie’s site.

So it follows, that when Artie wanted his book cover designed, he called on his friend Victor Kahn. Artie, also a fan of Jim’s work, was struck particularly by Jim’s “Good Morning”. Both Artie and Victor thought it the perfect sky, with it’s romantic overtones and gentle rays beaming down, to represent the free love, peace and harmony aura of Woodstock!

* And one little side note.

I had a silly idea recently, which if I didn’t act on would have  stuck in my head so… I decided to write a song called “The Beach Boys Rule”.

While writing, which, by the way,  my kids wouldn’t help me with because they thought it was embarrassing,  I realized I didn’t know what I was doing, so I called the master Artie Kornfeld to help.

Well, having written or produced most of the songs of the 60s, this brought him out of retirement real fast and quickly he sang some tunes into my cell phone message, and emailed me some lyrics to go with mine, taught me some tricks of the trade and that is all I can say for now.

Jim meets Alice Cooper…25 years after

Last night  I met with Alice Cooper after his concert in Clearwater, Florida.  It has been 25 years since I painted the  album cover for his  “Raise Your Fist and Yell ” record in 1985.  I decided it was time I met Alice in person, so I  arranged the meeting through my local contacts.

Cooper’s assistant, who addressed  me as that  “Raise Your Fist and Yell guy” placed me and my two kids, Drew and Art, in the front of the line of die hard Cooper fans.  I forgot to charge the battery in my camera( Big Oooops) but Cooper’s fans were happy to take pictures of Alice  and I together and send me the pics!

At  this first face to face meeting between the “King of Shock Rock” and the “Master of Fantasy Art”, we discussed important biz such as whose kids have the messiest room. Alice says his do but I disputed that.

I told Alice and fans this never before told secret of the album cover:

because Alice wasn’t available to pose for the cover, I used my own face for the scream, mixed with Alice’s eyes.  I explained, “It’s a collaboration, like Frankenstein”. Alice replied, “That’s fine, your teeth are probably better than mine anyway”.

I will now be talking to Alice and his assistant further about doing my “Fame Wall” project as I recently did for John Stamos and for which I am gearing up to do with the Beach Boys.

Art Warren, Jim, Alice and Drew Warren

Jim and Alice