Maxwell Alexander Gallery is proud to announce the second Los Angeles solo exhibition for American Artist, Tim Solliday. Solliday produces very few paintings each year, typically less than 10, and only one major work a year. This is mainly due to his laborious study process. From compositional sketches to pastel color studies, gridding off the canvas and drawing in the scene again — it can take two to three weeks just to start painting an idea. This is the old school way art was created - no computers, no cheating, just straight up draftsmanship.

Tim Solliday, born in 1952, was inspired early in life by his artist-father to begin painting. Solliday honed his craft as a billboard painter, his first professional job as an artist. After a chance meeting in the late 1980s, Solliday began studying with early California impressionist, Theodore N. Lukits (1897-1992). Solliday’s style of painting is reminiscent of Taos Society of Artists painters and illustrators such as N.C Wyeth and Frank Brangwyn. After revitalizing the California Plein-air movement, Solliday turned to his illustrator influences of the early 1900s to create his unmistakable style. His unique process starts with an imaginative compositional pencil sketch with notes on the title, size, and scribbles of changes to make. Next the pencil sketch with refined detail, then a color sketch in pastel. This important step in the process lays out the strokes that will be mimicked in the finished oil. After making a grid on the canvas, he then redraws the pencil study in full size using charcoal. At this point he begins to paint and uses a “wet on wet” technique to complete the whole scene.

Solliday’s paintings have appeared in numerous prestigious museum exhibitions, including at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University in Malibu, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, The Autry National Center’s Masters of the American West in Los Angeles, and The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Prix de West in Oklahoma, among others. Solliday’s paintings can be found in the permanent collection of public institutions across the country as well as in the collections of important American and Western art enthusiasts.

Solliday’s work is frequently featured in national magazines including Western Art Collector Magazine (cover), Southwest Art (cover), Western Art and Architecture, and many others. It is rare that an artist would find their highest success later in life, but Solliday’s career has taken off in the last five years. This has been cemented by sold out exhibitions and a continue urge to grow as an artist.

Solliday’s studio is on the top floor of a prominent Gothic church in Old Town Pasadena. He lives in nearby Altadena, California with his wife, Pauline, and their children.