Vintage 1970's Wildlife Acrylic on Cardboard Painting by James Leroy Evans

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Vintage 1970's Wildlife Acrylic on Cardboard Painting by James Leroy Evans

Aprox. Dimensions:
Board 20" x 16"
Frame: 28" x … Read more Vintage 1970's Wildlife Acrylic on Cardboard Painting by James Leroy Evans

Aprox. Dimensions:
Board 20" x 16"
Frame: 28" x 24"

Excellent Vintage Condition!

Read below Verde Independent interview with the Artist Originally Published: December 21, 2005:

When wildlife artist James Leroy Evans was 12 years old, he returned from a vacation with parents and found his extensive moth and butterfly collection eaten by mice. He had every known specimen except one, the Luna Moth.

For the young Evans, it was a painful loss. He'd been using the insects in the collection as models for drawing, a passion of his since age 7.

"I was encouraged at an early age to keep up with my art," Evans said at his home studio in Sedona.

In first grade, Evans' teacher gave him a cocoon with a living moth inside. He put it in a box and waited for it each day to breech, hoping to catch a glimpse of life in its natural state.

"Moths are beautiful specimens," he said.

Nearly 60 years later with over 200 paintings sold, Evans is still fascinated with wildlife. Born in the industrial town of St. Joseph, Mich., in 1934, Evans has always been a keen observer for detail. From his first rough sketch of a robin perched on a wooden board outside his childhood home to his latest carefully depicted mountain lion resting on a red bluff, Evans' paintings look real enough to put you there at the scene.

"I've always been a technical person," Evans explained. "I automatically put a lot of detail into my work."

That true attention to detail landed Evans a job after high school as a technical illustrator for the Whirlpool Corporation, based in St. Joseph, Mich. From 1952 to 1956, he drew mechanical layouts and did airbrush illustrations long before the age of computer-assisted graphic design. After Whirlpool, Evans worked for Michigan Tractor Shovel, in Benton Harbor, drawing three-dimensional cutaway views of transmissions.

While employed as a technical illustrator, Evans took mail-away art courses from a school founded by Norman Rockwell. Studying those art courses for four years, Evans expanded his ability for depicting "real life" sketches.

"I really learned a lot from that," Evans remembered.

Evans never attended college or any formal art school. But by the time he retired as assistant manager at the Motorola Government Electronics Division, in Scottsdale, Evans had 40 people working for him who did.

He joined Motorola in 1959 and worked there until 1998 before moving to Sedona.

"I always had a job and worked straight through for 46 years," he said.

Highly technical illustrations of radar imagery, satellite telephone systems, and government projects marked much the work Evans did at Motorola.

"My favorite illustration at Motorola was a concept for the Supersonic Concord jet plane. But the French got that one from us."

Throughout his career as a graphic artist, Evans stayed true to his passion for wildlife photography and painting. Driven by a fondness for animals and the outdoors, Evans spent weekend after weekend hiking and camping in the Rim Country outside of Payson for inspiration.

"Animals are survivors," he explained. "They have such intelligence for what they have available to them."

Painting wildlife has always been an important part in Evans' life, but one that he considers a hobby. Over the last four decades, his "hobby" accumulated into quite the numerous and impressive collection of original works.

"I've probably done 10 paintings every year since I was 7 years old that had to do with wildlife," Evans said.

His paintings on average measure at 18-by-24 inches and can be much smaller or larger depending on the project. Evans' primary medium is masonite board and acrylic paints. The acrylic, he said, provides a larger range of colors to work with than oil on canvas, Evans' second favorite palate choice.

Each one of Evans' wildlife paintings captures a moment in time, a habitat ­ a study of nature. The impact of his talented expression lies in its subtlety. A mountain lion attentively peers into the open from atop an elevated outcropping; a bald eagle extends its wings amid the reflections of red sky on water breathing through the clouds; a golden colored butterfly suspends gravity in motion while pollinating wild flowers.

No creature in the wild is too obscure or obsolete. A large bulk of Evans' work includes artistically unpopular members of the animal kingdom. Paintings of ducks, squirrels, fish, chickens and rare species like jaguars fill every available space on the walls in his home gallery.

The subjects of Evans' gaze are as he envisions an animal would behave in a particular scene in nature. Using a 35 mm camera, he captures many of the background scenes for his paintings during hikes around Red Rock Crossing or other parts of Sedona. He also gets a lot of material from day trips out to the Mogollon Rim and while fishing in trout streams near Payson.

"I start out with a one-inch brush to put in tones. Then I work my way into smaller brushes and put the animals into the painting last," Evans said.

Sticking to self-teaching as a technical illustrator, Evans uses pictures of animals found in magazines and other reference materials to reproduce even the most intricate of details. With deep appreciation of bodily expression, anatomy, hair color, skin tone, and eyes, the animal depicted takes center stage as the star of each painting.

"I'll lay out my own animal from a reference and then draw it onto chalk paper. I then place it in a scene. The focus is on the animal's structure," Evans explained.

An avid photographer, Evans spends a lot of time in the outdoors taking pictures that may end up becoming a basis for his next project.

From start to finish, the work is a slow and deliberate process.

"I get a tremendous amount of relaxation and satisfaction from doing this. It's exciting for me to be out there."

Evans said most of his paintings take about 60 hours to do after he comes up with an idea. The little paintings often take longer because he has to use a smaller brush.

Evans sold his first painting before it was even finished. In 1960, while visiting the still "ghost-town" of Jerome, Evans painted a portrait of the Jerome Jail. The painting is still housed in the Jerome Museum.

"I was in the town square painting the Jerome Jail with its walls crumbing down when someone asked if I'd like to sell it," Evans remembered. The person, apparently from the local historical society, bought it for $200.

Today, Evans work sells in the range of $1,800 for a smaller piece to $3,200 for his larger works. Evans is the first to admit, however, the market for wildlife paintings is small in Sedona galleries.

"Most galleries around here don't want paintings of fish, ducks or wildlife," Evans noted. "As an artist, I'll usually get $2 per square inch for a painting."

Back when Sedona didn't have galleries, Evans had an ongoing display of his work at the old Dutchman's Cove Restaurant. The restaurant was owned by fellow Motorola graphics man John Stevenson, who built it on Oak Creek behind what is now the Art Barn.

"I sold more paintings out of there than anywhere else. People had a chance to study the work, looking at them all at once."

Selling his work is not the sole motivation for painting, however. A dedicated husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Evans donates much of his work to conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, the Elk Foundation, and Anglers United.

"I probably have a painting in every state in this country because of Ducks Unlimited," Evans said.

While heading into Rim Country for wildlife viewing is an important vehicle for inspiration, Evans lately has not been able to get out much due to caring for his ailing wife of 40 years, who has Parkinson's.

"We met when she was a Spanish folk singer. We raised a family of six children, 16 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren."

Evans' work is currently on display at Creative Printing, locating in the West Sedona Safeway shopping plaza. Besides painting, Evans draws cartoons and wants to publish an illustrated children's book.

"I keep working and keep trying," he said. "I enjoy watching and painting animals. This is something I've always done and will continue to do." See less