Bigfork artist returns to his craft after 40 years

Bigfork Bay forms an imposing view outside of Tom Lewis’ living room.

The artist’s home sits on a bench overlooking the bay, and large windows bring the view of the bay’s sparkling water inside. A gull flies by the window, and you could almost reach out and touch it. Boats meander on the bay below, and on a clear day you can almost see down Flathead Lake to Polson.

It’s the kind of view you might see in Lewis’ oil paintings. Lewis creates oil paintings in the impressionistic style, which leaves enough to the imagination to let your mind wander; to form impressions that may or may not be what the artist has in mind for you.

Lewis, 75, came to Bigfork after a career in commercial graphic arts and publishing in San Diego. He and his wife, Sharon, bought the home built by the Koppang family that overlooks Bigfork Bay.

 Lewis spent a career in commercial design, but painting had always been a part of his life. He exhibited his work out of college, then put his paintbrushes away. Now after a 40-year hiatus he devotes his time to painting at his home studio. The exhibit “Pushing Impressionism” showed at Collage Gallery in Bigfork earlier this summer and some of his work remains on display at Collage.

Cowboys and ranch life are a common theme in his work. Lewis was raised on a cattle ranch in Colorado where he came to know the lifestyle of cowboys. These itinerant workers showed up in the spring and worked until fall, when the cattle were sold and shipped. “The cowboys left quite an impression on me,” he said.

Lewis has a style reminiscent of French impressionists, with perhaps a bit more realism on certain of his pieces. Other pieces leave the viewer free to interpret setting, mood and tone.

Lewis may create a feeling of how sunlight strikes a pond, or the way fog rises from a meadow.

“I don’t try to capture a photographic rendition of the scene,” Lewis said.

Some of Lewis’ best works, in his view, are paintings that he did in one sitting and put down. Those paintings have an emotional component, such as a painting called “Rocky Shore.” This painting showed water playing on the shore of perhaps a Flathead Lake shoreline. It’s done in what Lewis called “ala prima” style, in which the message is conveyed by the painter on first effort. “Those are the ones I find most exciting,” he said.

Lewis is passionate about the texture and feel of oils, a sensitivity gained and honed over years of practice. “It’s the miles you have on your brush that make you a better painter,” he said.

In his corporate design career Lewis created the graphical identity for Jack in the Box restaurants. His company at one time was the No. 1 design firm in San Diego, he said. The company also created high-quality books for consumer and trade markets. The business eventually sold and closed. “There’s a big difference between starting a business and growing a business,” he said.

“I used to solve other people’s problems. Now I just solve my own.”

Some artists are validated in their work by how much they sell. Lewis said he felt that way earlier in his painting career, but he now paints for how it makes him feel. “I’ve learned as I work, if a painting is good or not,” he said. “I do it for me. It satisfies some need.”

He does find gratification in making money from his work. “You do it because you want other people to appreciate your work. I take pleasure in people responding honestly,” Lewis said.

Dozens of oil paintings line the walls and floor of his home, which doubles as his gallery. Looking at his paintings every day, he often has to be his own harshest critic. Some paintings will likely return back upstairs to his studio, where he may continue to shape them.

Lewis said he wishes he had never stopped painting 40 years ago. But he’s intent on improving every day, exploring the medium of oils and his personal interpretation of scenery, western life, and wildlife.

He teaches art. Working with students he often is amazed at how an amateur painter can turn out good results. “Anybody could paint if they had enough discipline and interest,” Lewis said. “Some of my students were racked with fear and frustration but they were able to take home something they could put on their wall.”