Reynolds, James

Artist James Reynolds was born in a Standard Oil lease house in 1926 and raised in

Taft, California. As a boy, he spent summers at his grandmother’s Nevada City

hotel, which was situated just beyond the infamous Donner Pass and literally

above the south fork of the Yuba River, supported by stilts. In Nevada City he

experienced firsthand the remnants of the Old West and heard the stories of

that time.
 

Although he dabbled with drawing during grade school, Reynolds didn’t

investigate it seriously until after World War II. The trip home from China was

a long and boring one; luckily, the sailor on the bunk beside him had a

painting kit. Reynolds took to it immediately and, upon returning to America,

enrolled in the Kann Institute of Art in Beverly Hills.
 

Reynolds soon found work in Hollywood. For almost two decades, he sketched

storyboards and sets for most of the major studios. Finally, after a

particularly grueling assignment designing and helping to apply a body of

tattoos for the film version of The Illustrated Man, he moved to Sedona,

Arizona, and never looked back.

James Reynolds passed away February 8, 2010.
 
 
 
 
 

 

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