Jim Richter has been an artist for nearly all his life. He does mostly oil painting while often basing his paintings on photos he’s taken, though he does also use his creativity to make things up sometimes as well.

“I use oil and then mix it with turpentine,” he stated.

He does not only paintings, but also quite a few murals around downtown Janesville. One of those murals is of many old cars in honor of the local General Motors factory, as well as his father who worked there.

He knew that he was good at and wanted to pursue art from an early age, especially when given confirmation of his talent as well as getting paid for his artwork.

“I had my first affirmation in second grade at St. Williams Catholic School in Janesville. I drew the three wise men in such a way that the nuns insisted to my mom, also a talented artist, that she encourage my talent,” Richter explained. “I sold my first painting when I was 16, and that sealed the deal in my head—getting paid for what I loved and the only thing I was really good at.”

When deciding to study art in college, he ended up going to the Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida.

“When I got into art school, I took commercial art because they were like, ‘You should be a painter,’ and I said I already can do that, so I don’t want to pay you to have me do that. Why don’t you teach me how to make money, because that’s what I want to do,” he said. “The Ringling Mansion was the Ringling Brothers from Baraboo, Wisconsin. John Ringling started this art school and I was the only one from Wisconsin that was there at the time.”

There are many different subjects he will paint, such as nature scenes and neon signs, but he also does a lot of paintings that have historical significance, like a painting he did of the state of Wisconsin with many historical subjects in it.

“It has the oldest brewery, which is Grays Brewery in Janesville, Wisconsin. The Grays brothers are still operating, well, relatives are. The Tallman House is where Lincoln stayed. The actual state is a perfect outline of a Native American’s head. If you look at the map, you’ll never not see it now. There’s Old Abe, he was our famous eagle. He was fighting so hard in the Civil War that General Lee put a bounty on him because he would screech over the battlefield. The Union Soldiers picked him up from some Native Americans up by Lacrosse and trained this eagle to be on their side, more or less,” Richter explained.

While he bases many of his paintings on photos he takes, he tries not to copy the photos exactly and makes them his own, often hardly looking at the photo after he’s started.

“It’s easier to remember that way. Your brain isn’t as good as you think,” he said.

Something he truly enjoys when it comes to art is doing research behind the places or things he paints to learn more, as the history is very interesting to him.

“One of the fun things about this job is researching and learning,” he said. “My theory on art is whatever gets you through the night. I like abstract art too. This is of the lower Sugar River, but it’s abstract. I did some research about why it’s called the Sugar River when it’s in Brodhead, Wisconsin. It’s called that because when the pioneers came, the bottom of the river was full of white sand that resembled sugar.”

He often works sporadically on paintings with it sometimes taking him months to finish. Occasionally this is because there are things about it that just don’t feel right, and it takes him a while to figure out and make it “perfect,” while other times it’s a mixture of that and the painting itself, such as the subject, is personal to him, so he wants it to be as perfect as can be.

“I have to start like 10 things and then take my time to finish them. I don’t just start and finish something. If I did, I’d be rich. Like this painting. It should be done. I started it like 10 days ago, but then I quit after like 2 days. You also have to let it dry because oil can be pretty wet,” he said.

Jim Richter is a lifelong artist and lover of the craft. He truly enjoys the creativity of painting and will even change up an entire project to be something different if he doesn’t feel it’s right. To see more of his art and learn about him, visit his website (artrichter.com)