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I’ve been painting since I was in high school–more than 50 years. I was always drawing custom cars and street rods, so my interest was to go to Art Center in California. Most Detroit car designers went through here. This didn’t pan out for me as I had a really low draft number and Vietnam was still pretty hot. I tried some portrait work while I was stationed in Germany. I played around doing some fancy wood carving up until 1980, and a bunch of custom leather work for a few years, then I started going back to my roots and doing a lot of paintings.

In 2014, I started expanding into watercolors and oils. More recently I’ve been playing around with pastels. I belong to the Lehigh Art Alliance as well as the Doylestown Art League, from which I’ve taken several classes. I have also taken classes at the Baum School of Art and the Banana Factory in Bethlehem. All are good choices for someone who wants to learn more.

One thing that helped me greatly with my watercolors was an online watercolor painting group. You could do weekly or monthly projects, but also ask questions about how to do things.

Some of my best moments that I’ve enjoyed include winning 1st place at the state fair with Curiosity, honorable mentions at our Doylestown Art League shows, Meadowood and Tinicum art shows. I belong to the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, so my hardest challenge has definitely been painting something for the juried Philadelphia Flower Show–they are intense on perfection. I have managed to be in the show three times.

For those that would like to try painting, I suggest you join an art league, take classes at Baum or Banana Factory, Michaels or a wine & paint session. I also belong to Peace Valley Plein air group. We go out somewhere every week. It’s a good learning experience and you will make a lot of new friends.

[You can view more of Tom Zimmerman’s work at his website.]

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