Bass & Brush with James Jordan 2024 at YELLOW DOG CAFÉ

Jim Jordan’s July 2024 painting exhibit at the “Yellow Dog Café” in Onekama Michigan included paintings created in Paul’s studio in June, 2024.  The first six paintings below were the product of Jim and Paul’s improvisation collaborations with Jim painting and Paul improvising on his double bass, the two conversing and responding to each other as they love to do through paint and sound.  Jim’s immediate connection with the sounds and rhythms coming from Paul’s double bass animates the spontaneity of Jim’s brush.  Similarly, Jim’s joyous freedom of motion, shapes and gestures, and vivid colors prompt musical responses.  The unfolding of painting and music happen “in the zone” that Jim and Paul happily enter into.  The resulting paintings are saturated with Jim’s lifelong intertwining with the beauty and wonder of nature all around him in Northern Michigan.  These paintings, in their freshness and directness, invite viewers to slow down, open up, and enjoy a moment of being transported to a world of simple beauty.  

Jim grew up in Northern Michigan, spending time almost every day on the sands of the Lake Michigan shoreline close to his family home. From an early age, Jim was fascinated by the ever changing play of light, wind, sand, waves, rain, snow, ice, and the infinite patterns their interplay creates.  In this series of paintings for the Yellow Dog Café, Jim creates images that are saturated with the strong feeling of wonder and gratitude he has for living in the lap of such amazing natural beauty that nourishes him daily.  Almost every evening Jim is to be found at the beach with his camera, in a state of quiet awe.  Sunsets are often spectacular.  Enthralled, Jim often remains until the stars are out.