Bay Area artist Jared Sines didn’t exactly have the average childhood: by age eight he was undergoing classical art training and drawing from live nude models.
“Most parents teach their kids how to throw a curve ball, but mine were into the arts,” said Sines, an exhibitor at The Garden Gallery in Half Moon Bay whose primary work includes still-life, nudes and landscapes. “‘Draw the nice naked lady,’ they’d say,” he laughed. “I liked the drawing best. I liked painting too, but I think I got more paint all over the room than on the canvas.”
Sines credits his father with getting him started in art. “My father was one of those crazy artist types too, though I guess all artists are a little bit crazy. ‘Learn anatomy, son,’ he said. His legacy really lives on in me through his love of art.”
Sines is a California native and took art classes his whole life, including advertising art at the Academy of Advertising Art and contemporary art at San Francisco State University. He’s also exhibited across the state, from La Jolla to San Francisco, from the age of 21.
Sines paints a range of subjects, each demanding an intricate knowledge of technique. Lately he’s been combining still-life and landscapes, or still life and nudes, based on real items in his house. “These objects are usually things my wife and I have collected from antique shops. I have drawers full of them: wood carvings, stone relief pieces,” Sines said. “My paintings evolve when I find an object that strikes me. I just dig around and find something; and all the meaning-these pieces are just full of it.”
Once Sines finds an object he likes, he often takes pictures of it and other objects, such as fruit, at different angles and in different combinations. But he also paints from imagination too. “I may use certain real things as a basis for my work, but usually they are a starting point. From there my imagination takes over.”
Sines imagination allows him to take part of what he sees in a photograph, part of what is in front of him, and part pure creativity to achieve the best scene. “I fiddle with the composition and assemble as I go,” he said. “It’s like a video game: I reach another level of achievement and challenge myself to move to the next.”
Sines’ paintings show vividly how many different ways he has combined different art forms. In one painting, carefully rendered pieces of fruit-sliced and whole pears, thick bunches of grapes-have an almost glowing quality. Behind them, a black and white painting of a 1930s style nude woman sits at an angle. In the painting, “Shells, Cherries and Seascape,” flesh-colored conches and a few bright cherries sit on a mat in the foreground; behind them, the tiny figure of a person stands at the surf of an expansive ocean of low, frothy waves under an overcast sky.
And in the still-life, “Green Grapes and Chinese Figure,” Sines has used one of his own little treasures-a burgundy figure of the Buddha-as the focal point of a piece that also includes fat, shining green grapes. The color scheme, in which the rich reddish color of the figure is contrasted with the luminescent ripeness of the grapes, seems very deliberate. Indeed, this careful composition reveals just how much effort Sines puts into his pieces.
Sines said his own personality and experiences do come through in his work. “I can’t help but express myself in my paintings. Whether you want to or not, what you create is always original and reflects who you are and what you are feeling.” Sines said it’s not necessarily something he does intentionally, or something he is even aware of. “Looking back, it’s surprising how revealing some of my work is of what my life was like at the time,” he said. “It’s amazing how these unconscious things crept in.”
Sines’ method is very precise, involving small, soft brushes and what is called a “glazing method,” or painting many thin layers on at a time on to smooth panels. Because of the layers involved, Sines often works on many pieces at a time, allowing one layer to dry on one painting while he starts another.
Despite this required attention to detail, Sines often does many other things while he’s painting, including listening to music or watching television. “It’s really an entirely separate part of my head,” he explained.
Sines said he is his own most important critic when it comes to the success of his paintings. “When I get shown in a gallery or someone exhibits me in some show, I’ll be off to the side standing there. Someone will pass by my work, another raves about it, another thinks it’s awful,” he said. “I have to please myself.”
By Jared Sines (Oil on Canvas) 12 x 16 Inches
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pulvinar risus at nisl consectetur, vel dapibus lacus euismod. In vitae orci non urna venenatis posuere. Maecenas et fermentum turpis. Suspendisse in nunc sem. Morbi dapibus sem nec mi accumsan, et tincidunt nisl pellentesque. Suspendisse sed nulla a est cursus consequat. Curabitur elementum orci ut ligula dignissim, in egestas purus vestibulum. Nam ac tempor metus. Fusce id tempus libero. Donec nec ipsum ornare, mattis est at, placerat est. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam elit lorem, egestas quis volutpat a, tincidunt id metus. Maecenas at ante risus. Quisque euismod turpis erat, non sodales tellus venenatis id. Aliquam iaculis nibh justo, ut eleifend eros pulvinar interdum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Nam varius iaculis erat, sed vestibulum enim dictum blandit. Donec ac orci diam. Morbi posuere, dui placerat fringilla ultrices, nisl lectus convallis eros, quis faucibus augue mi at odio. Quisque aliquam maximus facilisis. Donec vel fermentum metus. Duis hendrerit euismod arcu eget tincidunt. Proin malesuada nulla in risus congue accumsan. Cras sed congue ex, a bibendum turpis. Nulla viverra arcu pretium odio lobortis tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti.
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By Jared Sines (Oil on Canvas) 11 x 14 Inches
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pulvinar risus at nisl consectetur, vel dapibus lacus euismod. In vitae orci non urna venenatis posuere. Maecenas et fermentum turpis. Suspendisse in nunc sem. Morbi dapibus sem nec mi accumsan, et tincidunt nisl pellentesque. Suspendisse sed nulla a est cursus consequat. Curabitur elementum orci ut ligula dignissim, in egestas purus vestibulum. Nam ac tempor metus. Fusce id tempus libero. Donec nec ipsum ornare, mattis est at, placerat est. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam elit lorem, egestas quis volutpat a, tincidunt id metus. Maecenas at ante risus. Quisque euismod turpis erat, non sodales tellus venenatis id. Aliquam iaculis nibh justo, ut eleifend eros pulvinar interdum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Nam varius iaculis erat, sed vestibulum enim dictum blandit. Donec ac orci diam. Morbi posuere, dui placerat fringilla ultrices, nisl lectus convallis eros, quis faucibus augue mi at odio. Quisque aliquam maximus facilisis. Donec vel fermentum metus. Duis hendrerit euismod arcu eget tincidunt. Proin malesuada nulla in risus congue accumsan. Cras sed congue ex, a bibendum turpis. Nulla viverra arcu pretium odio lobortis tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti.
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By Jared Sines (Oil on Canvas) 9 x 17 Inches
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pulvinar risus at nisl consectetur, vel dapibus lacus euismod. In vitae orci non urna venenatis posuere. Maecenas et fermentum turpis. Suspendisse in nunc sem. Morbi dapibus sem nec mi accumsan, et tincidunt nisl pellentesque. Suspendisse sed nulla a est cursus consequat. Curabitur elementum orci ut ligula dignissim, in egestas purus vestibulum. Nam ac tempor metus. Fusce id tempus libero. Donec nec ipsum ornare, mattis est at, placerat est. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam elit lorem, egestas quis volutpat a, tincidunt id metus. Maecenas at ante risus. Quisque euismod turpis erat, non sodales tellus venenatis id. Aliquam iaculis nibh justo, ut eleifend eros pulvinar interdum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Nam varius iaculis erat, sed vestibulum enim dictum blandit. Donec ac orci diam. Morbi posuere, dui placerat fringilla ultrices, nisl lectus convallis eros, quis faucibus augue mi at odio. Quisque aliquam maximus facilisis. Donec vel fermentum metus. Duis hendrerit euismod arcu eget tincidunt. Proin malesuada nulla in risus congue accumsan. Cras sed congue ex, a bibendum turpis. Nulla viverra arcu pretium odio lobortis tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti.
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By Jared Sines (Oil on Canvas) 4 x 9 Inches
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pulvinar risus at nisl consectetur, vel dapibus lacus euismod. In vitae orci non urna venenatis posuere. Maecenas et fermentum turpis. Suspendisse in nunc sem. Morbi dapibus sem nec mi accumsan, et tincidunt nisl pellentesque. Suspendisse sed nulla a est cursus consequat. Curabitur elementum orci ut ligula dignissim, in egestas purus vestibulum. Nam ac tempor metus. Fusce id tempus libero. Donec nec ipsum ornare, mattis est at, placerat est. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam elit lorem, egestas quis volutpat a, tincidunt id metus. Maecenas at ante risus. Quisque euismod turpis erat, non sodales tellus venenatis id. Aliquam iaculis nibh justo, ut eleifend eros pulvinar interdum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Nam varius iaculis erat, sed vestibulum enim dictum blandit. Donec ac orci diam. Morbi posuere, dui placerat fringilla ultrices, nisl lectus convallis eros, quis faucibus augue mi at odio. Quisque aliquam maximus facilisis. Donec vel fermentum metus. Duis hendrerit euismod arcu eget tincidunt. Proin malesuada nulla in risus congue accumsan. Cras sed congue ex, a bibendum turpis. Nulla viverra arcu pretium odio lobortis tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti.
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By Jared Sines (Oil on Canvas) 11 x 14 Inches
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pulvinar risus at nisl consectetur, vel dapibus lacus euismod. In vitae orci non urna venenatis posuere. Maecenas et fermentum turpis. Suspendisse in nunc sem. Morbi dapibus sem nec mi accumsan, et tincidunt nisl pellentesque. Suspendisse sed nulla a est cursus consequat. Curabitur elementum orci ut ligula dignissim, in egestas purus vestibulum. Nam ac tempor metus. Fusce id tempus libero. Donec nec ipsum ornare, mattis est at, placerat est. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam elit lorem, egestas quis volutpat a, tincidunt id metus. Maecenas at ante risus. Quisque euismod turpis erat, non sodales tellus venenatis id. Aliquam iaculis nibh justo, ut eleifend eros pulvinar interdum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Nam varius iaculis erat, sed vestibulum enim dictum blandit. Donec ac orci diam. Morbi posuere, dui placerat fringilla ultrices, nisl lectus convallis eros, quis faucibus augue mi at odio. Quisque aliquam maximus facilisis. Donec vel fermentum metus. Duis hendrerit euismod arcu eget tincidunt. Proin malesuada nulla in risus congue accumsan. Cras sed congue ex, a bibendum turpis. Nulla viverra arcu pretium odio lobortis tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti.
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By Jared Sines (Oil on Canvas) 9 x 12 Inches
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum pulvinar risus at nisl consectetur, vel dapibus lacus euismod. In vitae orci non urna venenatis posuere. Maecenas et fermentum turpis. Suspendisse in nunc sem. Morbi dapibus sem nec mi accumsan, et tincidunt nisl pellentesque. Suspendisse sed nulla a est cursus consequat. Curabitur elementum orci ut ligula dignissim, in egestas purus vestibulum. Nam ac tempor metus. Fusce id tempus libero. Donec nec ipsum ornare, mattis est at, placerat est. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nam elit lorem, egestas quis volutpat a, tincidunt id metus. Maecenas at ante risus. Quisque euismod turpis erat, non sodales tellus venenatis id. Aliquam iaculis nibh justo, ut eleifend eros pulvinar interdum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Nam varius iaculis erat, sed vestibulum enim dictum blandit. Donec ac orci diam. Morbi posuere, dui placerat fringilla ultrices, nisl lectus convallis eros, quis faucibus augue mi at odio. Quisque aliquam maximus facilisis. Donec vel fermentum metus. Duis hendrerit euismod arcu eget tincidunt. Proin malesuada nulla in risus congue accumsan. Cras sed congue ex, a bibendum turpis. Nulla viverra arcu pretium odio lobortis tincidunt. Suspendisse potenti.
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By Jessica Robles
Jessica Robles: Could you explain to me how you became interested in art?
Jared Sines: Through my father, I guess. My father was one of those crazy artist types too, though I guess all artists are a little bit crazy. He really wanted me to have the opportunity to have a classical arts education, so he set me up in this nice little art school. I even got to do nudes at that young age-“draw the nice naked lady,” they’d say. I took some piano too–I think I learned maybe one song-but I liked the drawing best. I liked painting too, but I think I got more paint all over the room than on the canvas.
JR: So it was really your parents’ influence?
JS: Oh yeah. I mean, most parents teach their kids how to throw a curve ball, but mine were into the arts. It was a different kind of childhood.
JR: Could you tell me more about what it was like growing up with that kind of experience?
JS: Well, when I was still little I really had no basis for comparison. I thought it was completely normal. I didn’t even think about it. It wasn’t until 4th or 5th grade that I realized that not everyone had the background I had. When I tried to tell my friends about it, they even accused me of lying. My friends all thought it was weird, but I never did-I grew up with it.
JR: What effect did this early art education have on the kind of art you were interested in?
JS: Well, I was taught early under a very traditional, classical style. It was very realistic, I mean, my dad really got me into drawing the nudes so I could understand, physically, the human form: “learn anatomy, son,” he said. So I did. But later in the 60s San Francisco State really didn’t encourage the sort of classical drawing, painting in their art program. It was an obsolete style for a while.
JR: And what did this style, or this more classical training, include?
JS: Well, it was really about mixing colors, in a realistic way, drawing with a real idea of time in mind-using shadow, light. And paying attention to the details of the human body were a big part of it, which is were the live models came in. I mean, we’re really dealing with the basics of art here.
JR: But that wasn’t popular then?
JS: Not then-but of course it’s exactly the same training we would have before learning anything else these days. They do that first at the Academy (of art) now.
JR: And that’s really your favorite style still?
JS: Yes, but that’s just my preference of course. I don’t think it’s really a more legitimate or better style than others. My father and I would do landscapes together. He was a really interesting guy, and he tried some really tough things with his work. I mean, it was brilliant and unusual, just different. I respect what he was trying to do.
JR: So your father was an artist too?
JS: Well, he worked at an advertising agency, out of necessity, but he enjoyed art around the house, all kids; he even liked furniture. But he had to make a living, and he worked hard at that. He was not as good at fine art, and that was a point of friction: his style wasn’t for me. But his legacy really lives on in me through his love of art, and that part was good.
JR: What is required to be a good artist?
JS: The artist has to be a great craftsman, as well as an artist. It’s not just being able to draw a ‘good fist.’ You have to really draw well, no B.S., with craft and expression. You have to have the technical skill and the expressive skill. The artists I’ve known have each been brilliant in their own way, but it is that (expression and skill) which distinguishes them.
JR: And what are some of your favorite types of painting?
JS: I do a lot of still lives, nudes and landscapes, sometimes incorporating two or all three in one piece.
JR: Which of those do you find the most difficult?
JS: Well, the anatomy of the human body is very hard to draw. I have this old book from the 20s or 30s, I think it’s called ‘Enchanting Beauty,’ with a lot of nudes in it and so lately I’ve been studying that.
JR: What have you been working on lately, specifically?
JS: Lately I’ve been combining landscapes and still-life carved objects. These objects are usually things my wife and I have collected, from antique stores. I have drawers full of them: wood carvings, stone relief pieces. My paintings evolve when I find an object that strikes me. I just dig around and find something and all the meaning-these pieces are just full of it. I basically follow my nose.
JR: Where do you do most of your work?
JS: I have a room in the house that is my studio and office. It was my daughters’ bedroom when they were growing up. It has a computer, and all the things I need. It came together in sort of sections, first this and then that.
JR: What kind of techniques do you use in your paintings?
JS: I use a glazing method, which is basically many thin layers of paint using soft brushes and a lot of blending, on smooth panels.
JR: Do you work on one piece at a time?
JS: I actually work on several at once. It’s easy to do it that way, since there are so many layers to put down.
JR: Do you need a certain environment to work in?
JS: Not at all: there’s always the TV, or the music on. In fact, I’m painting right now, talking to you.
JR: So you don’t find it hard to concentrate?
JS: No, it’s really an entirely separate part of my head.
JR: Once you find a piece to work with that really speaks to you, how do you move on from there?
JS: From there my imagination takes over. I use my imagination to experiment with what kind of scene I want to create.
JR: Are there new directions you’d like to take your work?
JS: Of course I’ll do more painting, and maybe some drawing. I’d like to try sculpture. Right now I like nudes. They’re a challenge. And they’ve been meaningful to me, since I had experience with nudes when I was young, and with the usual college art classes. Started out struggling, and then mastering them sometimes. Some of them are good. I started early with them and I was introduced to some beautiful nudes done by other artists. I try to make mine as well done as I can make them, all positive, nothing negative, easy on the eyes.
JR: Do you actually set up the scenes and paint from them?
JS: In a way I do. I often paint from imagination, but I’ll also have real objects set up. I usually take pictures of different combinations at different angles, and see which looks the most convincing. Different photographs can change what the whole canvas looks like. Sometimes, I’ll have part of my scene there in front of me, like some fruit, and then I’ll have something fake in the background, purely from my imagination. I may use certain real things as a basis for my work, but usually they are a starting point.
JR: How satisfied are you with most of what you do?
JS: Well, my paintings are rarely perfect, right away. I’ll take a photograph and use aspects of it, and add substance to it. I fiddle with the composition and assemble as I go. It’s like a video game: I reach another level of achievement and challenge myself to move to the next. There really is a game aspect to it. Hopefully, each piece turns out better than I hope it to be when I start. When I get shown in a gallery or someone exhibits me in some show, I’ll be off to the side standing there. Someone will pass by my work, another raves about it, another thinks it’s awful. I have to please my self.
JR: What’s the hardest thing about what you do?
JS: When I paint, I take something and I try to do it well, and reach an expectation or exceed it. When it gets frustrating I can’t do that. Paintings don’t always resolve. If I push myself too hard, I have to let go of it, at least for a while, and let my subconscious resolve it. Then, when I come back to it, it works. That’s why I try to work ahead of deadlines for shows. If I stay relaxed and don’t overwork myself, I can look at it all with a fresh eyes and not get frustrated.
JR: How much of yourself-you’re personal experiences and feelings-come through in your work?
JS: I can’t help but express myself in my paintings. What you do reflects who you are. Whether you want to or not, what you create is always original and reflects who you are and what you are feeling. Looking back, it’s surprising how revealing some of my work is of what my life was like at the time. It’s amazing how these unconscious things crept in.
JR: What are some things you are currently working on?
JS: Right now I’m doing some larger still lifes to show in the late fall, and trying to get some new pieces together for another showing.
JR: Are those pretty big projects?
JS: Well, in a way yeah. My work is labor intensive. I work with small brushes and there’s a lot of precision involved. So it takes some time.
JR: Any other plans?
JS: Well, I’ll be doing more nudes in the future, more landscapes.
JR: Any traveling?
JS: I spend a lot of time in Vancouver. I take lots of pictures of the landscapes and work from those. I’m always suddenly parking my car and running to a creek bed or something.
JR: How do you like working with The Garden Gallery?
JS: Well, I haven’t had past galleries encourage my use of nudes. But this gallery encourages everything I do. They’re very supportive. I’m really into larger pieces right now so that is what I’ll be delivering to them from time to time along with other work I have been doing.