Jose Jimenez | Landscape Artist
Jose Jimenez is a North Carolina artist known for his oil paintings of local landscapes. Since his childhood, Jimenez has held a passion for colors found in nature and the creative process of transforming individual colors into stimulating works of art. Beginning in his youth, Jimenez relished the dynamic experience of creating, of experimenting with the aesthetics of color, and of re-creating the world through his own eyes with the medium of sketching and painting. Vastly independent and resourceful, Jimenez developed his artistic skills through self-education and self-discipline. Jimenez draws his inspiration for art from the natural world around him, focusing on landscapes in his various series of paintings. As a landscape artist, Jiménez’s work takes viewers on a journey from the coast to the mountains, from sunrises to sunsets, from the natural richness of North Carolina to the rocky beaches of Cape Cod. The beauty of landscapes compels him to recollect and generate the magnificence of nature in ways that invite the eye to examine environmental scenes at an in-depth perspective.
One of the most striking types of landscapes that are reflected in a wide variety of Jimenez’s oil paintings is the marshlands of the Carolinas. As a local artist in North Carolina for several years, Jimenez has had the opportunity to spend days upon days in the midst of the marshlands in order to capture the beauty of the landscape from dawn to dusk, as each hue of light emphasized different aspects of the lowlands. The most invigorating incentive for Jimenez in painting landscapes is that he can create a scene that captures a specific moment in time that will never be seen again – a magnificent blend of colors, wind and weather that occur but once a lifetime. Through his marshland paintings, Jimenez strives to create work that peaks the viewer’s appreciation of nature and makes him or her feel as though they were standing in the same field where he captured the original view of the landscape.
In order to create authentic oil paintings of his landscapes, Jimenez works in the style of en plain air, where he creates landscape paintings by creating field study paintings from within the actual landscape rather than relying on photographs. Jimenez relishes the challenge of capturing moments in nature that may fade as quickly as the setting sun before his eyes. Such a first-hand lens of nature allows Jimenez to use a variety of senses to shape the structure of his landscape paintings. Once Jimenez selects a field study painting to use as a model for a larger oil painting, he uses a red undertone to invoke the intensity of colors that reflect nature. Through his unique personal style of various techniques, mediums, colors, and shapes, Jimenez can immortalize and share a special moment in time with the world.
Jose Jimenez has shown his artwork in galleries across the Carolinas, where they have been enthusiastically accepted by the public. His art has been displayed by award-winning galleries in major North Carolina cities such as Raleigh, the state capitol, and Charlotte, the Queen City. Coastal galleries in Atlantic Beach and Wilmington have selected the work of Jose Jimenez to portray the local landscapes through timeless oil paintings that are enjoyed by native North Carolinians and tourists alike. Another testament to his ability to reflect the beauty of North Carolina, out of state galleries in Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA have selected the works of Jimenez to exemplify the splendor of North Carolina. According to Qué Pasa, the Latino newspaper of the Carolinas, Jimenez has influenced and inspired the Latino community to have a greater interest in art. Represented by fine galleries and reviews in and beyond the state, Jose Jimenez is truly a North Carolina artist.
“The marshlands in North Carolina, Charleston South Carolina, Cape Cod and Blackwater National Park in Maryland offer some of the most stunning views and some of the most beautiful places for painting. I spend many of my days out in the middle of a field painting small field studies, staring into the clouds while smiling and enjoying myself. It reminds me of when I was a kid, thinking that I wanted to be an artist one day so that I could bring the beauty of mother nature into the hearts of people. Trying to capture every single moment in my paintings and putting a smile on someone else’s face. And hopefully they could appreciate the beauty of the natural world around them and at the same time make them feel like they were there. Most of my large paintings are based on the reference of smaller field study paintings that I have completed. Studying a marshland helps me with the composition, colors, and patterns of the marsh. Marshlands are just mesmorizing, and to me they offer some of the prettiest scenes one could ever see. It feels so amazing to be that close to nature and have the time to study and try to capture the beauty that it has to offer.”- Jose Jimenez
