Paintings | Thomas Michael Nieman Art | Pennsylvania based Painter

Years passed by and I allowed resistance to win. I wanted to create art using oil paints. I wanted to learn and understand how to build paintings of the beautiful scenes I witnessed while driving, hiking, on runs or hanging out in my community. Yet I let all the excuses in my mind drown out my desire to do something I knew I would enjoy, that would be healthy for me and that I could eventually get pretty good at. During the onset of the COVID Pandemic I had a little accident,

There is something about painting subjects that are part of our everyday lives. Things we see nearly every day. Some are rather mundane and others lively and colorful. Subjects that are close to home allow for deep, well informed observation on a different level of understanding. Perhaps the thousands of times we drive by a scene, bend down to pet or feed our little pup or look up to the sky to breath in a sunset while sitting in the backyard connect us to a scene in ways wor

Each artist has their own unique gifts they can bring to their practice. Perhaps, if nothing else, it is the unique perspective of each artist that can serve their work and serve their viewers best. I have always been drawn to the works done by impressionists. The works of artists like Monet, van Gogh, and Cézanne have always captured my attention and curiosity. These artists possessed the ability to convey a sense of feeling through their art which transcends that which is p

So much of what we do in a peaceful civil society hinges upon expectations. Meanwhile the absence of expectation is the beginning of discovery. Perhaps then, the ability to move back-and-forth from the realm of concrete expectations and goals to the realm of judgement and expectation-free open mindedness, is the key to productive creativity. Expectations are a critically important part of this world. People who take the time to clarify expectations, and meet or exceed them co

Great friends of ours asked me to paint something related to baseball. While I am operating outside of my comfort zone when figure painting I agreed to give it a try. The stage of life we are in normally would have us running around dropping our school age kids off at practices or games. In some cases we might be coaching or simply rooting them on from the stands. So by default we are all baseball fans and we are missing the game of baseball in a tremendous way. This is the

Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic there is enough to do as a full time parent, full-time salesperson and a part-time artist that I need to take every opportunity to make progress. During the past twelve months or so I've produced one new piece per week on average if you include my basic sketches and mandala drawings. During the period of social distancing and sheltering in place I have started experimenting with Oil Painting. I was fortunate in the sense that I had been preparin

We are living through very strange times as we navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic induced social distancing orders we currently have in place. Here in the Poconos we are in a "Hot Spot" that is testing the limits of our infrastructure, education and medical systems. We are all trying to make the most of this. Right now I am taking much of the time I'd normally spend commuting and coaching youth baseball, and reallocating it to pursue creative endeavors. Thankfully, I am able to s