Description

NIGHT IN DAY by Thomas Blackshear LIMITED EDITION PRINT Limited Edition of: 850 Framed as shown in deluxe suede mats, marbled frame and engraved plate.  Image Size: 17 1/2″w x 33 1/2″h. Published: January 1995

‘Night in Day'” was my breakthrough painting. I guess you could say that this was the first piece that helped me get in touch with who I’m becoming. At the time I created it, I was overwhelmed with freelance work. I was tired of being a workaholic and not living my life. I was finally able to do a painting for a small Society of Illustrators art show in San Francisco and this was it. Someone suggested that it was me emerging from darkness into light. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it made sense.

“Another angle is that may be it was my new way of looking at things. After I did this painting, every piece I painted from that point on was different. I had a whole new look, a new goal, a new vision and a new reason for what I was doing. What was so cool about the painting was that I saw it completely in my head before I even did it. That was the first time that ever happened to me.”

Thomas Blackshear
THOMAS BLACKSHEAR II, the son of an Air Force captain, was born in Waco, Texas, and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. “Drawing was all I ever liked to do,” he says. “While all the other guys were playing baseball or basketball, I was in my house, drawing.” He pursued an interest in art throughout high school, securing a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. After a year there, he transferred to the nearby Academy of Art. While finishing his college education, he was recruited by Hallmark Cards and later became the apprentice of illustrator Mark English. Blackshear settled in Kansas City, where he became head illustrator at the prestigious Godbold/Richter Studio. A year later, he began a prosperous freelance career, illustrating many advertisements, several U.S. Postal Service stamp collections—one called “Black Heritage,” another on classic movies, and a third on jazz musicians—and several series of Hamilton Group collector’s plates featuring scenes from Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Wizard of Oz. Although he was successful, he was dissatisfied and decided to pursue a career in fine art. Blackshear has received many awards for his artwork, including the Society of Illustrators’ coveted Gold Medal. He was profiled on The Living Canvas, an art magazine of the airwaves that was shown on public television, and he has been featured on the Ebony/Jet Showcase and The 700 Club, and in The Saturday Evening Post. An exhibit of his original works for the Black Heritage stamp series premiered in 1992 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and subsequently toured the United States.