Jeff Hukill is a North Texas visual artist and songwriter who's been painting professionally since 1975. Mr. Hukill was kind enough to answer some hard-hitting art questions for our first edition of WeShotJr: Greatness.

Richardson Heights: What first inspired you to paint?

Jeff Hukill: A deep inner connection to the beauty, wonder and adventure of life as a young boy. My inspiration to actually pick up a brush started in the early 60's when I saw an ad from the Famous Artists School of Westport Connecticut. Norman Rockwell was one of the co-founders. I wanted to inspire others the way I was inspired by what I saw in their work while taking the 2 year course.

RH: Do you remember a specific piece of artwork or artist you saw that made you think, "I can do that." ?

JH: Maxfield Parrish has been a great inspiration to me with the way he captured the imagination and his use of color. I like all of his work.

[ASIDE: The Maxfield Parrish stuff is pretty incredible. Check out this article section + attached image.]

RH: How did you learn to paint?

JH: As mentioned above I took a 2 year correspondence course from FASWC. I taught myself from many sources of information including books but mainly through my own doing.

RH: What is your work environment like? Can you describe what your process is while painting?

JH: My painting environment has changed over the years from listening to many types of music. Now I like it quiet. I paint with acrylics colors because of the fast drying time of the thin transparent glazes of color that I use in my technique.

RH: Your work is obviously very spiritual in nature. Can you explain what drives you?

JH: I believe I explained that in my bio web page but dreams are what I'm interested in -- dreams of a spiritual that move me to create, give meaning to life and share with others, and hopefully inspire others, beauty, color, light, nature, order.

RH: A recurring image in your painting is that of a transparent being, human or otherwise. Can you explain what that signifies?

JH: We are all spiritual in nature. Dreams are as real as this place we call earth. The true nature of our being is Soul which is not the the physical body, mind or emotions. As Soul we use the body, mind and emotions while in this world of matter, energy, space and time. This physical world is not separated from the dream or inner world. As Soul we can live in both worlds. We are in this world but not of this world.

Image courtesy of Jeff Hukill.  Be sure to check out all of his work.