We recently connected with Tom Blood and have shared our conversation below.

Tom, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

During my career in advertising as a writer/Creative Director, I was involved in many new business pitches as well as all kinds of work creating for our existing client base.
Rejection is very much a part of advertising.
New business pitches, you’d be going up against other ad agencies, vying for the same piece of business. Sometimes, that involved spec creative. I was fortunate that we won, more often than we lost – but when you did lose, you had to accept it, learn from it, and move on.
Same thing when presenting new campaign ideas to an existing client. Sometimes, they would buy it, sometimes they wouldn’t. Sometimes, you’d have to go back to the drawing board and completely start over. Other times, you’d have to modify what you presented.
Through it all, I learned to deal with people turning down your work.
As an artist, I often participate in art show competitions. Sometimes, I get into the show. Sometimes, my work wins or better yet, sells.
But I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose. The key is to create what you want and do your absolute best at creating it.
If you do that, good things will happen.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As mentioned in the first question, I spent my entire career creating advertising for a variety of local, regional and national accounts. My degree is in journalism, so I’ve been a writer for my entire career.
But I have always loved to paint.
That goes back to my childhood days and was carried on through high school and into college.
I was offered two art scholarships coming out of high school but just didn’t think I could make a living creating art – so I opted to use my creativity as a writer.
In 1989, I began painting, starting with a combination of airbrush and acrylic brushwork.
I knew nothing about airbrushing but bought a book on how to use one and liked how the smoothness of airbrushing countered against more traditional brushwork.
Ultimately, I decided not to pursue airbrushing – but not before I had three gallery shows featuring my large format airbrush and acrylic work.
Something else happened to me in my early days of painting. I discovered the work of Rene Magritte and became completely enamored with his amazing creativity and outstanding brushwork.
Surrealism was something that I was naturally drawn to and Magritte’s concept driven paintings seemed so much more imaginative than Dali’s twisted scenarios.
So I began to emulate the work of Magritte.
Many of my paintings feature a man in a bowler hat – my ongoing homage to Magritte. But I also explore many of the same ideas he did – night and day in the same painting. Strange juxtapositions that make no sense – but somehow do.
As I’m now over 200 paintings, I believe I have developed my own unique style.
I hope you enjoy it!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I paint ideas.
My goal, as an artist, is to paint those ideas as good as I possibly can. And through the years, I have learned that means paying attention to detail.
My mission is to continue to get better as an artist.
When I look back at the work I’ve done five years ago, I can see a dramatic improvement in my technique.
That is something that I hope continues to get better with time and I hope my creativity and imagination serves me well, well into my old age!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It’s always awesome when you sell a print and even more exciting when you sell an original.
I love it when friends and family purchase my work.
But I really love it when someone who I have no idea who they are or where they’re from (at least initially) buys my work.
That means they’re purchasing it based on one simple thing – they want it.
They don’t know me. But they like my work enough that they want it on one of their walls.
Repeat customers are even better!
I have been fortunate in that I’ve sold work on four different continents and 13 different countries. I hope both those numbers continue to grow!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tombloodart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomblood_art/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TBloodman/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thblood/
• Twitter: https://x.com/tomblood_art

Image Credits

All photography: Tom Blood Art