About the Artist:

Jim Hale is a local artist specializing in watercolor, pastel painting, and pen and ink drawing. The subject matter varies, but tends toward nature and the outdoors – floral, landscape, wildlife, and sailing.  He now lives in Vista, Ca, having moved from the Los Angeles area in 2000. Jim has been a member of the Vista Art Association (now VAF) since it’s founding in 2003.

Raised in the San Francisco area, he was first exposed to the arts at such fine arts museums as the California Palace of Fine Arts in Lincoln Park. He spent several years racing sailboats on San Francisco Bay. He graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a BS in electrical engineering. Jim worked as an Aerospace engineer for nearly 40 years in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, and was fortunate to travel extensively in his job. His hobbies include more than 20 years of woodworking, photography, drawing, and more travel.

Jim’s motivation in his art comes from years of hiking and camping throughout California’s National Parks with his late wife and children. His early years of sailboat racing inspired his sailboat themes.

Upon retiring in 1997, Jim began taking art lessons from the Learning Tree University in the Los Angeles area, drawing in graphite and charcoal. Jim also studied acrylic painting in a local high school program. After moving to Vista, he studied watercolor painting and took additional drawing lessons from a local professional artist. This has also given him the opportunity to explore other media such as pastel painting, colored pencil drawing, and the use of ink washes.

Jim is currently showing and selling his work at Gallery 204 in the heart of historic downtown Vista, the local Vista Library, and other venues. He has several paintings in private homes in Southern California, Oregon, and Arizona.