We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tom Conner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tom below.

Tom, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I had always loved and learned painting and drawing from an early age, but as college approached I ended up in an architecture progam as the “sensible” way to be creative. The idea of “starving artist” was just too scary. However, even through the demands of my degree, I took as many drawing courses as I could just for myself.
Fast forward 20 years, and the long hours of the architectural profession had eventually crowded out any time for painting. Although architecture is creative in it’s own right, it’s ultimately a task of consensus building between the client’s needs, building codes, city ordinances, costs and on and on. It’s always a delicate balance where you hopefully create some beautiful places along the way.
But one day I knew I needed to get back to a creative pursuit that was only driven by what I wanted to say as an artist, something that I had complete creative control over. This is what brought me back to painting. 12 years into it and it is now an almost daily practice, even if I only have time for a small sketch. I definitely wish I had started sooner. I feel like I’m making up for lost time,
Even in this later stage of my architectural career, when my earning potential is the greatest, I have started to scale back that side of my life to allow more time for painting. It’s just that important to me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am primarily a landscape painter. I have always loved the natural world so I naturally drifted towards a practice of painting “en plein air,” or outdoors in the environment that I am depicting. Although I also spend much time painting in my studio (especially in the heat of our Phoenix summers), this plein air practice has been crucial for me to learn the observational skills necessary to convey the impressionist realism I strive for.
In a lot of respects, I approach architecture and painting similarly. I design building spaces and landscape scenes so that I can explore how the qualities of light behaves there. It’s really the light that is the personality of the scene, enriching colors, softening forms, creating edges, focal points, etc.
My hope is that the viewer of my paintings will feel as if they are in the scene. Photographic realism is not the goal, but conveying the mood of the scene in a painterly way is. When a client tells me that they love the sense of light in a piece, then I know I have made a connection and achieved this goal.
I also participate in quite a few plein air festivals in and around my desert southwest home every year. There the public can watch me and other artists in action and see how we interpret and distill the essence of the scenes before us.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Personally, I find being an artist to be about observing and sharing. There is so much beauty in the world around us that often gets missed as we go about the daily grind. By learning to become a keen observer and then showing others some otherwise overlooked moment in time, artists are able to forge connections between people by reminding them of the environment we share in common. I’m equally excited by seeing the work of other artists. It’s a similar enjoyment I get from a dinner with friends or listening to live music. The shared experience forms bonds.
While social media definitely comes with societal pitfalls, it has also allowed us creatives to share our work much more broadly. That in turn allows connections to be made around the world. It’s an exciting time to be an artist.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have allowed my social media audience to grow organically. Trying to second guess what the algorithm wants in order to get clicks or followers isn’t the point for me. I just do the work and share the work, warts and all. I started by sharing my first terrible paintings without trying to curate some perfect version of my work. I still do that today. Although I am a better painter now, there is will always be room for improvement.
The old Warhol adage rings true in the social media sphere: “…Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” I’m already thinking about my next painting and how I can get better, rather than worrying too much if I get enough likes on the last one
There are a ton of great artists with small social media followings. But I know better than to judge the quality of their work on the number of followers they have. My audience has grown slowly and that’s ok. It’s not a competition.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tomconnerstudio.com
• Instagram: @tomconnerpaints