Portrait of an Artist – John Arthur: Maestro of the imagination

I still consider myself to be a student. I’m challenged whenever I pick up a pen or a brush and learn something new every time. – John Arthur

 

By TIM WILCOX

Special to the Alpine Mountaineer

“I lived the classic Norman Rockwell–type boyhood of the Midwest, with cane-pole fishing and rope swings,” says John Arthur. The oldest of five children, he was born in Peoria, Ill. John’s father was an artist, who worked in several media, including fine oils. His mother, who stood two inches shy of five feet, had a flair for writing and was a voracious reader.

Reflecting on his adult life as an artist, John emphasizes that “it’s important to me that I give credit to my father for starting me out in the basics and the rest was mostly self-taught.” He adds that “I honor the Old Masters and the great illustrators for advancing my education and still rely on them when I teach.”

In the mid-1960s the family moved to Denver, Colo. “I discovered my passion for fly-fishing in the Rockies,” John says. Three years later, they moved again, this time to Santa Barbara. Why? “Because of my father’s changing jobs and his desire to discover new places,” he responds. His father supported the family as a skilled color-film artist, an esoteric craft that involved cutting film with an X-ACTO blade to make overlays for varied pieces, from posters to fine art.

John completed junior high and part of high school in Santa Barbara, where he later attended the city college. “I tried to enroll in art classes there, but they were all booked,” says John. “So I took poetry, creative writing and anatomy.”

Still, art was in his blood in a non-anatomical sense. So John moved up to San Jose, where his family had relocated once again, finished high school and launched his career. Initially, he did illustrations for Crazy Shirts in Hawaii and then began creating comic books, both as an artist and writer.

“I remember getting $25 per page when I started,” John says, “which wasn’t much for the amount of work it took. But it gave me the creative freedom I needed.”

As a practical matter, he supplemented his income with decidedly non-artistic jobs. “I’d do construction work or landscaping three or four days a week to help pay the rent and assist my family, too. For a while at least, then, I focused on my art in the evenings.”

Connecting with Ray Bradbury

In 1970 John attended the very first Comic-Con in San Diego, which has become a huge annual event. There he met author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), who would become a friend and mentor.

“He bought one of my comic books and just encouraged the daylights out of me by doing that,” John recalls. World-famous at the time, Bradbury continued to inspire John, who notes that “he was one of the greatest encouragers I’ve ever known.”

In his early 20s, John opened a graphics business in San Jose specializing in illustration. His focus shifted from comics to books and magazines. Especially prominent were his watercolor and oil paintings rendered in Norman Rockwell style, some of which appeared on magazine covers. “That was a big deal for a 24-year-old,” he says with a smile, “and it allowed me to put construction and landscaping behind me.”

Because rent was much less expensive in San Bernardino, where his sister Wendy lived, John relocated there in the mid-’70s and opened what would be a more prosperous graphics business. Nine years later, he could afford to move up into the mountains, settling comfortably in Crestline.

“My Colorado impressions and influence never left, and being up here was a close as I could get to that,” he says. His reputation as a superb figurative artist continued to grow, and more and more clients came knocking on his professional door.

He completed a number of storybooks, marked by his signature Romantic Fantasy (John’s term, which he shortened to Romantasy) watercolor-and-ink pieces. Leanin’ Tree, America’s second-largest greeting-card company, came on board. He also created several limited-edition portfolios for Paper Tiger Press. In the mid-’80s, John wrote and illustrated a graphic novel titled Adventures in the Mystwood. His art was and is wonderfully imaginative and detailed, populated with fairies, mermaids, fair damsels, pirates, mythical creatures and more. Fly-fishing art and landscapes (a relatively recent form) augment his diverse portfolio.

New doors opened for John. He did prep work for Blade Runner, an iconic Warner Bros. film, sketching the main characters, including Harrison Ford. More widely respected than ever, John contracted with Disney to collaborate with its Imagineering arm, which oversees the creation and construction of the company’s theme parks and other attractions worldwide. “The illustrations and three-dimensional modeling work I was asked to do for the Imagineers was a lot of fun,” says the artist in a typical understatement.

On a personal note

John was so caught up in his burgeoning art career that he didn’t marry until age 38. “I fell head-over-heels in love with a teacher in Riverside,” he reveals. “Maureen and I shared a love for the mountains, so we lived in Riverside for only one year.” Then they moved up to Crestline and bought a home high above Lake Gregory, which remains John’s ashram to this day. Maureen developed a productive niche at Valley of Enchantment Elementary School, teaching third grade and special-needs students.

John pauses, a wistful look on his face, then shares: “Sadly, Maureen passed of cancer in 2006. We had two kids – Matthew, 11, and Katrina, 8 – and this was such a difficult time. But the school community and church community gave us wonderful support, and we were really blessed!”

Four years later John met Terry Williams, a mountain resident whom he describes as “a marvelous woman and mother extraordinaire with four children of her own: Chris, Brian, Jennifer and Nicholas.” The couple set about caring for their blended family. They also opened Mystwood Gallery in Crestline’s Top Town enclave, which John describes as “Terry’s brainchild.” It’s a showcase for John’s signature artwork and Terry’s striking jewelry. Their creations are also displayed at the Mountain Arts Network gallery in Lake Arrowhead Village.

“We’re a creative force together,” says John. “Almost every night when we’re home in the mountains, we put movies on in the background. Then Terry’s working on her jewelry, while I’m working on a drawing or a painting.”

John is remarkably successful. Still, he’s refreshingly modest, too. An artist who’s taught many master seminars, he insists in all candor: “I still consider myself to be a student. I’m challenged whenever I pick up a pen or a brush and learn something new every time.”

When he’s not in primal creative mode, John loves almost nothing more than fly-fishing. “Back in Colorado I encountered someone called ‘Old Ted’ fishing on the Cache la Poudre River. He was definitely a master, and I was hooked.” Then in San Jose, when he was 17, John met the president of the city’s fly-casting club, who took John under his wing. Since then, for more than five decades, he’s been a passionate fly-fisher. His favorite destinations in order: the Eastern Sierra, the Truckee River, Colorado and Montana.

Acknowledging that his life has been quite an adventure, John invokes one of Ray Bradbury’s favorite sayings: “Jump off the cliff and design your wings on the way down.”

Mystwood Gallery is at 23445 Crest Forest Dr. in Crestline, (909-589-2929). For more about the artist and his work, visit www.JohnArthur.com.