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“Each piece starts with a white piece of paper or a blank canvas. Beyond the initial seed of inspiration, is exploration and mystery. As the creative process of painting unfolds, it reveals something altogether new made visible. What’s important is to move forward on this unseen path.”

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Biography

Jacob Aguiar

I have been an artist my entire life. I can remember as a kid staying up until midnight drawing comic book characters with friends or sitting in the car while my parents had to run errands so I could draw what I saw out the window. An avid lover of the outdoors from an early age, my favorite activities as a child included playing hide and seek and building forts in my friends' woods in rural Kansas. It wasn't until 2011 that my love of art and my love of nature found each other. Burned out in naturopathic medical school, I took a leave of absence my third year of school to spend time with family and to pursue art. I spent that year in the small Northern California town of Sebastopol. It didn't take long before I realized I was surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes in America. At that point, I really had no direction, debating whether I should try watercolor, pen and ink drawing, oils or one of the many other media out there. I was searching the internet for inspiration and direction when I stumbled across the landscape pastels of Richard McKinley...needless to say, I was hooked immediately. Not only were his paintings incredibly beautiful, he had found a way to combine media in such a creative way. I immediately purchased my first set of Rembrandt pastels, and began my journey of capturing the beauty of the natural world with these little sticks of pigment.

That year I traveled throughout the west, studying with several incredible pastel artists, including Richard McKinley, Albert Handell, Clark Mitchell, and Marla Baggetta. I began entering and was accepted into several national shows including IAPS, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Northwest Pastel Society, Pastel Painters of Maine, and Pastel Painter Society of Cape Cod. Despite my love of pastels and painting outdoors, I returned to Seattle to finish my last two years of school.

I have since graduated from school and am practicing my two passions simultaneously. I work three days per week as a naturopathic doctor in Scarborough, ME, and much of my off time is devoted to my art. Having a foot in two distinctly different worlds allows me to maintain perspective, and find passion in what I'm doing each and every day. I am currently teaching regular classes in Westbrook, ME, as well as plein air and studio workshops around the country and internationally. I am a signature juried member of the Pastel Society of America and a professional artist member of the Copley Society in Boston.

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