using Jamie as his model for many of his prints and paintings. Jamie describes
how their collaboration is accomplished and what each artist contributes:
“John lays out the preliminary sketch for the figures, and then oil paints the skin.
I lay in the backgrounds, hair, and accessories (dress, tail, etc...). The dress bodice
on “Sea Goddess 5” is made out of cut pages from Homer’s “Iliad.” The octopus
on her head is painted in India Ink. The mermaid’s tail on “Siren of the Sea” is created from cut corn husks and there is hand-stitched embroidery in the background
design. John always begins the work and then passes it to me. We have a system
where we don’t discuss our initial ideas until we each get a turn to complete our
work. After we each finish our individual parts of the work, we critique and talk
about finishing details, or address areas that we are not totally satisfied with. We
really enjoy working together on artworks - it pulls each of our strengths together.
John has wonderful drawing ability and is good with illustrating figures. I love
working with textures and color.”
The couple work out of their studio located in the Rockport Downtown Heritage
District. A black seahorse bearing a white “3” stands out against the cerulean blue
of the buil [