TJ Liston's Bio
I started painting in 2010 after I received an art class from my wife Lisa as a Christmas present. I was always taking pictures on vacations and my wife would say "Why take photos of landscapes when you can just buy a postcard? You should always put people in your photographs." Then I took a picture of an old abandoned truck and said, "Wouldn't this make a great painting?" And she took it from there.
The oil class my wife gave me was taught by Rosalie Day White, one of Lynchburg's most renowned instructors. I had just turned 51 and had never taken art outside of elementary school. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis thing but I loved it. The present was one of the best-ever; I found painting to be very relaxing and a nice escape from my job as a professional swim coach. I have enjoyed the class and have become a chronic repeater; I can't seem to graduate, but I do believe that I have improved with each subsequent course load. I have also ventured into watercolor and taken classes from Lynchburg's Solly Blank and Purnell Pettyjohn, two excellent instructors. I have learned style and techniques from both, but find watercolor a bit more frustrating as it is less forgiving, so mostly I work in oils. I love that painting is very relaxing yet, at the same time, very challenging. Now that I have retired from coaching, and especially during the coronavirus quarantine, painting has become a welcome routine.
Studio #9 at the Art Box, sharing space with Rosalie White.
First class: January 2010 with Rosalie Day White continuing to this day
Watercolor class: Summer of 2012 with Solly Blank and with Purnell Pettyjohn 2013-2014
Art Camp, Nimrod Virginia 2012 and 2017
First sale: March 2012 Auction sponsored by the YMCA of Central Virginia
Jurors Fence, Lynchburg Art Festival 2016 Red Rocks of Sedona
The oil class my wife gave me was taught by Rosalie Day White, one of Lynchburg's most renowned instructors. I had just turned 51 and had never taken art outside of elementary school. Maybe it was a mid-life crisis thing but I loved it. The present was one of the best-ever; I found painting to be very relaxing and a nice escape from my job as a professional swim coach. I have enjoyed the class and have become a chronic repeater; I can't seem to graduate, but I do believe that I have improved with each subsequent course load. I have also ventured into watercolor and taken classes from Lynchburg's Solly Blank and Purnell Pettyjohn, two excellent instructors. I have learned style and techniques from both, but find watercolor a bit more frustrating as it is less forgiving, so mostly I work in oils. I love that painting is very relaxing yet, at the same time, very challenging. Now that I have retired from coaching, and especially during the coronavirus quarantine, painting has become a welcome routine.
Studio #9 at the Art Box, sharing space with Rosalie White.
First class: January 2010 with Rosalie Day White continuing to this day
Watercolor class: Summer of 2012 with Solly Blank and with Purnell Pettyjohn 2013-2014
Art Camp, Nimrod Virginia 2012 and 2017
First sale: March 2012 Auction sponsored by the YMCA of Central Virginia
Jurors Fence, Lynchburg Art Festival 2016 Red Rocks of Sedona