Tommy Thompson Featured on "The Journal of 100 Miles," Natchez Trace Parkway

By Becky Bauer, Nashville Writer/Songwriter

There are winding roads neighboring the Natchez Trace Parkway where Tommy Thompson can be found capturing his surroundings. “I always want to know what’s around the bend,” he says, as he loves to discover new places with his wife, Marie. For this plein air artist, around the bend is a few more miles of the unknown and endless possibilities. When finding that perfect spot, where sunlight dances on the fields, he’ll pull out his easel and, like a poet putting words to paper, brush paint to canvas of a peaceful landscape and unsuspecting subjects.

Thompson’s impressionistic style with a play on light and color creates a tranquil display of a rural environment along with elements that “give life” to his art. Horses and children are among his specialty. “With both you have to stay with them long enough for them to get accustomed to you, when they finally get quiet and move away from you, you can get a natural painting.”

The former architectural and commercial illustrator turned painter has been featured in numerous publications and solo exhibitions throughout the south and has studied under top painters like Kevin McPherson, Roger Dale Brown and Jason Saunders. A labor of love, to be a painter, he will declare, “You have to work at it every day, never stop painting.”

Inspired by the Tennessee’s hillsides, his work here includes Dream Acres, Hillside Horses and Southern Light. Left, Tommy paints with equine friend Sedona. This picture was published in the Winter 2008 issue of Horses in Art Magazine.

To inquire about Tommy Thompson artwork, please visit www.TommyThompsonArt.com and tell them Natchez100Journal.com sent you.

"St. John's Episcopal Church

Among Maury County's (TN) most cherished sites is St. John's Episcopal Church, located on Mt. Pleasant Pike south of Columbia. St. John's is a historic church built in 1839 in the Gothic Revival style; it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. No longer an operating church, it is only used once annually for services and for special occasions. The attached graveyard is the burial site of four Episcopal Bishops of Tennessee. Tommy Thompson painted "St. John's Episcopal Church" after visiting the grounds many times to capture the scene digitally.

"Home Alone"

Tommy Thompson painted "Home Alone" after visiting a farm near Thompson Station, TN. The painter loves to venture out into the countryside to find new subjects for his oil paintings. The area near Thompson Station and Franklin, TN, has afforded the artist many venues for his painting experience. He has met so many interesting people in the area. He especially enjoys painting near Leiper's Fork, TN, because of its many horse farms in picturesque settings. The hills and hollows near Leiper's Fork have provided many hours of pleasure for the artist and his wife as they search for that perfect light focusing on an animal, old barn, or landscape.