Jim Glover
Jim Glover grew up with Jack Glover, a well-known cartoonist and commercial artist as a father. Dad and his artist buddies were “always hilarious to hang around with,” but the art never really connected with young Jim.
A friend on his little league baseball team introduced Jim to bird watching. A city kid, Jim knew pigeons and robins, but he “blown away” at an up-close view of a real Baltimore Oriole (no, not the baseball team!), feathered in fluorescent orange and black. All of a sudden, art had purpose! Dave and Jim would go “birding” then return to Jim’s house to “borrow” Jack’s art supplies to paint pictures of the birds they’d seen. College courses extended his interest in flora and the environment. Jim sees the creative work of God in the breath-taking natural beauty that surrounds us all!
Glover began his career with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as an intern illustrator, eventually designing exhibits for the Ohio State Fair, developing displays and brochures, drawing maps, and illustrating trail guides. The Division of Natural Areas and Preserves asked Jim to help come up with paintings promoting tax check-off funds to set aside valuable native habitats, and these posters expanded his reputation as a wildlife artist. Freelance projects with NOAA, EPA, Ranger Rick, environmental groups, and park districts followed.
Thirty-three years later Jim left to pursue his “second career” as a painter of landscapes, buildings, the occasional critter, and anything else he finds outdoors as his preferred subject. Those years of technically demanding photorealistic work left Jim little room for personal expression. Glover switched to oils while embracing elements of Impressionism. Producing a looser, more relaxed, style (while remaining true to his realistic nature art roots) has been a rewarding and satisfying transition for Jim. “I feel like my paintings are now more alive as if there is a part of me in each one!”
Jim and his wife Ellen enjoy their life in Ohio, with their four children and eight grandchildren not far away.
Learn more about Jim on his website.
