Categories
Visual Arts | Painting
About
Impressions in Oil by Jim and Glory Palecek
Jim and Glory Palecek have made Coronado their home since 1999. Jim, who retired from his law practice in 2003, now works occasionally as a mediator and arbitrator for the courts. Glory has been a clinical psychologist since 1982 and a real estate builder and developer since 1985. We have always been interested in the arts, whether music, painting, sculpture, or literature. But to truly appreciate art, you must try to duplicate it. Only then will you understand how difficult it is to capture the essence of beauty and emotion conveyed in every work of art. Many of our pieces are attempts to replicate what the Masters have done. Other subjects are taken from photos we take or we see in other contexts. But our paintings are always our own rendition; some modified greatly, some very little. Glory, who has been painting in oils for the last 15 years, is a colorist. She has an innate ability that puts color and design together intuitively but never worries about exact lines or a photographic reproduction of an image. She will only paint something she loves, whether it be an impressionist master from Renoir or Cezanne, both of whose studios she has visited in the south of France, or a simple photo that strikes her in a unique way. She uses this talent not only in her oils but also as a designer of homes and their interiors.
Jim, who was born in Coronado, has worked on pieces by John Singer Sergeant, El Greco, Renoir, and Goya, but the attempt at duplicating "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" by Vermeer was his most exciting challenge to date. Yet to break away from the designs of the masters and create new pieces allows for one to become a realist or an impressionist or whatever form inspires. The Girl in a Boat was painted, for example almost entirely with a pallet knife, a truly freeing experience. Jim loves to paint light as it brings a scene to life. The still life "Ready for Sangria" with grapes, oranges, and roses is a classic example of how light changes the color of the subject. "It thrills me to try to capture that part of God's creation." Glory loves the whimsical and the profound, whether it is in the scenery, still life, or people. But the original subject must always inspire. "I have worked for more than 30 years as a psychotherapist. I have lived through much sorrow and joy with my clients, and it fills me with a great sense of satisfaction to create beauty and healing from what I see, wherever I am."
