Judy Bynum George

Southern Festivals
Vol. 8, No. 4, May/June, 2000

The Art of Living — Judy Bynum

She's mischievous. She's playful. She's passionate. She's caring. It's rare to see her without a long list of things to do. She's always on her way to practice the piano, work on a painting or visit a local school or prison. She has encouraging words to share. She has a need to create art and talk about it. She's the daughter of a minister and church organist and owner of a business called "The Art of Living." As she comes into her mid-life years, Judy Bynum seems to be doing it all.

Judy is a professional artist living and working in the mountains of North Georgia. her painting studio is nestled on the balcony level of an historic building on the square of downtown Cleveland. from there she creates impressionist landscapes. She loves to paint the world around her, the natural beauty of the countryside — mountains, rivers, streams, pastures, trees, roads, pathways. She captures north Georgia scenes that are increasingly endangered. She wants to create a record of what is today, in case it isn't tomorrow.

Inspired by her immediate surroundings, Judy's landscapes are specific locations, yet also universal portayals of the majesty of nature. In addition, her landscapes are the story of her life. Her paintings are personal expressions of the joy and struggle of living, loving and growing. Viewing one of Judy's paintings is taking a step into her spiritual world.

Judy applies oil paint in sweeping motions to canvases as tall as she is — and taller. She loves to work "big"; it comes naturally to her. As she says, "They can't ignore you when you paint bigger than life." She's also known for her thick layers of paint. It's a textural approach that makes you want to reach out and touch her canvases.

In many of her paintings, Judy captures music. Her works have been called "symphonies on canvas." She often paints with a boom box at her feet and classical music at full volume. Judy absorbs the sounds and sends them back out through her brush. Paintings especially inspired by music often accompany Judy to lectures and piano recitals that she conducts as part of her business. "I like to play a piece of music for my audience — like a Scarlotti — spontaneous, lyrical — and then perform a fiery, heavy Rachmoninov piece. They can always pick out which painting was inspired by which music. And it's a wonderful way to bring people into the creative process."

Judy's business, "The Art of Living" offers exhibits, slide programs, painting demonstrations, and motivational speeches to arts and civic organizations, schools, churches, and counseling groups. She calls it a ministry of encouragement and inspiration.

Judy is also a person very much inspired by words. The titles she uses for her paintings are usually decided before she even begins. They serve as part of the direction for the work of art. She has notebooks full of titles — waiting for the right time. Many are inspired by sermons and lectures she's attended and books she's read. A few of them are: "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "From Every Mountain Top Let Freedom Ring," "I Have a Dream," "Let the Music Pass Through You," "Let Your Light Shine Down on Me," "Pray Your Way Through It," "Live Your Dreams," "All Good Things Are Wild and Free," "High on a Mounatin of Love."

— D.J. Fenlon

White County News
Thursday, November 2, 1995

Local artist's work to appear in Paralympic benefit

Judy Bynum views her career as an artist as a path. "If you get on it and it's right, you will never live long enough to do everything you want," she says. "I don't think a lot of people are lucky enough to have something to do that they feel passionately about, that they enjoy doing."

Bynum's path began as a youngster. The daughter of a pianist mother and an artist father, she was drawn to both fields.

She graduated from Houston Baptist University in 1972 with a degree in art, but she found her true calling in the late '70s, while working at a gallery in Texas.

American Impressionism was just coming into vogue then, and as Bynum workd with the paintings the gallery handled, she thought, "I can do this." So she started developing her own Impressionist style.

Her career took a big step forward about the time the family moved to White County. Bynum began working on her masters degree at North Georgia College, and a professor there recommended she contact the Abstein Gallery in Atlanta. She has been represented by the gallery since 1988, and has also become affiliated with galleries in Louisville, Kentucky and Raleigh, N.C.

Bynum experiments with drawing and watercolors, but her primary medium is oil painting. A landscape artist, she says White County is rich in subject matter.

"I do trees, trees, and more trees, and a few mountains," she says. She has studied the symbolism of trees in history and religion, and says her works are representative of her life experiences.

Bynum can tell by the brush strokes on her paintings how she felt when she was working on them. Looking at a work in progress, she points out some upward strokes and says, "That looks happy to me."

It helps, she says, to have intense emotions when she paints. "Sometimes you're not distressed, and not fired up, and you long for those times." But Bynum's painting is a career, not a hobby, so she forces herself to work even in periods when she's not particularly inspired. "I don't wait for a mood," she explains. "Life is too short to sit and wait."

She often works from paintings and pictures, but says her favorite thing to do is load up the car with paints and canvases and set off in search of something to paint. "The first thing I see that grabs me, I paint," she says. "I know when I see it. It's very spontaneous."

Sometimes, the subjects don't appeal to her later. But she tries to keep working on a painting rather than abandoning it. "I don't reject very many," she says. "Usually if I stick with them, an work on them, the worst paintings will turn out to be the best ones. A lot of times it's the last 5 percent of the work, just when you think it's a piece of junk, that makes it come together.

"You always have a picture of a jewel, something very inspiring. And then you get to the end and it's not quite there... you're hoping the next one will do something the last one didn't."

Bynum does have certain works she's attached to, and she keeps photos of most of them. She says a prayer over her favorites when they are turned over to a gallery for sale.

She has learned to accept criticism, and the disappointment when certain paintings don't sell. "At first I used to cry a lot," she admits. "It takes years to get used to that."

Bynum's painting start at about $1500, and she has about two dozen on display at each of the galleries. She rotates the selection in each gallery periodically. She has won numerous awards for her work, and her paintings have been featured in Southern Living Idea House and Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles magazines.

She is also working on a book that she says is designed to encourage young artists. It will include original text and photos of her works.

She spends two hours each morning practicing piano, and makes time for her family. Her "studio" is set up in the corner of the kitchen, and she keeps her paints in a baking pan stored in the freezer. "It keeps the paints from drying out," she explains.

Music and art are both great outlets for her, she says. "There are certain things you can say in music, and certain things you can say with colors. They complement each other."

Bynum's newest work at the Abstein Gallery is a watercolor entitled "Take a Hike." It is part of the gallery's season opening exhibit, "Shades of Light," created especially for and inspired by the Paralympic Games.

Bynum and 40 other artists were asked to donate pieces for the exhibit. Proceeds from the comeratively framed artwork sales will be donated to the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee.

Bynum says she was particularly inspired by this assignment because her older brother has dystonia, a muscular disease that makes it difficult for him to walk and speak.

— Rhonda Wilcox, Publisher

Chamber News
White County Chamber of Commerce
Vol I, Issue 9, March 1999

President's Pick

Local artist Judy Bynum . . . Judy uses her skills to teach the art of encouragement which she calls "The Art of Living, Inc" involving motivational and inspirational presentations. This multimedia approach combines her piano music with slides of her paintings. As a Christian artist, she uses these presentations to promote hope and encouragement. A landscape artist, Bynum says White County is rich in subject matter. Often, she says, she has the titles for the paintings first, "then I try to paint to my titles." Bynum often works from pictures and slides, but her favorite thing to do is to load up her car with paints and canvases and set out in search of something to paint. Her paintings are sold to corporate clients as well as to private individuals. Current projects include paintings based on the local Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountain ranges, as well as the National Forests of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. She is an affiliated artist for a number of leading galleries in the Southeast including Abstein Gallery in Midtown Atlanta, GA, Monty Stabler Gallery in Birmingham, AL, and The Center Gallery in Sautee, GA.