Jeff Jamison has made painting is art, his art his work and his work his life.

The former Riverdale High and MTSU student now has his own art gallery in Murfreesboro after a 25-year spring break to Florida.

As a college student in the early 1980s, Jamison realized he wanted to do something he loved as a job, so he moved mid-semester to Miami and began selling suntan oil on the beach.

He eventually found work of a more artistic nature as an illustrator with the Florida Sun Sentinel and as an instructor at the Art Institute of Florida.

After spending 25 years in the Sunshine State and meeting his wife, Judy, the couple moved to Murfreesboro.

“We thought Rutherford County was ready to support a fine arts gallery,” Jeff said.

The gallery, which opened a year and a half ago, is located in Georgetown Square shopping center on Northfield. It is the only gallery in town displaying a single artist’s work.

“We’re kind of going out on a limb with just my art,” Jeff said.

The shop, however, pays the bills. Judy staffs the gallery allowing Jeff to produce paintings.

While she describes all of her husband’s paintings as “traditional representationalism,” subjects range from cowboys in the U.S. West to boating and fishing to European cafes and musicians to roosters.

“We try to have a little of everything for people to choose from,” Judy said. “It’s worked out, we’ve sold a little bit of everything.

“There’s something I like about every one,” she added.

Any professional artist must think of customers’ taste when painting. But Jeff says his best pieces are the ones he’s just lets happen.

“You can’t paint for the public,” he said.

Jeff said his best work magically happens with little planning and commercially-driven thought.

“When I paint I just zone out, you just let God walk through,” the artist said. “When those happen, the magical ones, it’s like the light shines from within. People are drawn to it.”

The former art instructor has seen many who look the part of an artist, but underestimate the hard work involved.

“Being an artist is something you strive to become, you can’t just call yourself an artist. It’s more than just a decision or the way you dress,” he said.

The word “art” is loosely tossed around sometimes, Jeff said, and added “Sometimes I feel like a painter, but sometimes I feel like an artist.”

One must use knowledge of color, design, texture, lines and other skills to create something totally new to be called an artist, Jamison said.

The painter might give lessons in the future, but his biggest advice to aspiring artists is “just keep painting.”