Meet Jim Waddell

As an eighteen year old freshman in the College of Architecture at the University of Illinois, it came as quite a shock to have my Art Professor suggest that he thought I was color blind. As it turned out, he was correct and so that career went out the window as he noted there wasn’t much of a call for color blind architects. It also sent my love of drawing into hibernation for forty plus years.

Fast forward to 2008 when I retired after careers in manufacturing and banking. My wife reminded me that she had married me for better or worse, but not for lunch. She suggested that I go to the Center for Learning in Retirement sponsored by our community college to see if there were classes that would interest me. That night, I revealed that I had signed up for a wide variety of classes including an oil painting class that lasted four weeks. My instructor was very considerate and would write the colors on my paper plate palette and I would paint the picture we were working on by listening to what colors(s) we were going to use in our painting. I enjoyed the experience so much that I then went on to the next level which was Bob Ross videos and “happy little trees.” I kept at it for several years until I met an artist in Sarasota who would help me with the colors and the rest is history.

I paint because it is fun and it is wonderful to see something emerge from a blank canvas that I, and others appreciate. As you look at my work, you will find that there are many different subjects. Hopefully, you will find them to be quite colorful.

The most common question people have is, “if he’s colorblind, how does he see the color?” Once I put a color on my palette from the tube (and have carefully written down what color it is), I go from there. Yellow is pretty evident. But other colors such as dark green, dark blue and so on are difficult for me. Our grandson Ben asked one time: “what does red look like to you Grandpa?” I responded by asking him, what does red look like to you Ben? He didn’t have a response and neither do I.

Having gone through this background, I hope that you will appreciate what I have created and will share the opportunity to view (and buy) it with your friends.