Capturing Nature's Essence with James Knill | Artistry, Exploration, and Raw Beauty
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Rob Lee :
Welcome to the truth in this art. Hey, I'm your host, Rob Lee. And today I have the privilege of being in conversation. The first first podcast you've been on, being in conversation with a South Florida based artist, a freestyle photographer. Please welcome James Knill. Welcome to the podcast.
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James Knill:
Hey, thanks. Thanks for having me.
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Rob Lee :
Thanks for coming on. You know, is I try to get my tentacles and my claws into this this kind of Florida scene. You know, the weather's better down there. You know, it's good to be at a connect with some folks that are doing interesting work. And before we get too too too deep into the podcast and to the conversation, I would like to ask you to share a little bit about your story.
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Rob Lee :
What's the James story? And ultimately, what was your first art experience?
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James Knill:
My first experience was, I guess like maybe in the eighties, I used to be really into skateboarding, like street skateboarding. And, you know, I was young back then before the teen era. I was really inspired by, like, the old school kind of Powell, Peralta, the graphics, like the skeleton ripping out of the whatever it's called, the Skeleton Ripper, like the Tony Hawk, the skull with the Iron Cross.
00;01;27;29 - 00;01;52;03
James Knill:
And so I would just draw stuff like that and make up my own kind of things. And I was also really into comic books, particularly Marvel. So it's cool now to see all the movies out. I mean, I think that's like perfect, perfect timing for me. But so I would be like so inspired. I would see pictures of whatever different characters and I'm just like, That is amazing.
00;01;52;09 - 00;02;23;09
James Knill:
And I would draw like, you know, different things that inspired me. And I would even make up my own comic book characters and I would even make my own comic books. And that's kind of the very beginning. I think as I started to get older, I kept skateboarding. I really got into like magazines like Thrasher Transworld, and that's where I really saw like the the power of photography.
00;02;25;04 - 00;02;55;18
James Knill:
Because it's all just image based. And then I slowly transitioned into surfing and the surfing magazines were really where showed me like just some insane photography because I mean the back in like the nineties, these guys are just and women are just out exploring going to these crazy remote locations and just getting the most insane photos with like nature and whatever in the sky and clouds.
00;02;55;18 - 00;03;21;15
James Knill:
And I mean, just amazing. And that's really. And then also being a surfer, I would go out and, you know, have my own experiences and so I would surf here in Florida. And people I would tell people, hey, I went surfing. The waves were amazing. And they're like, what are you crazy? There's no way in Florida. And so I had a camera and I started photographing them and people were like, Oh, my gosh, there really are waves in Florida.
00;03;22;05 - 00;03;57;13
James Knill:
And it kind of just kept going from there. And yeah, so that's kind of like the beginning of I would actually say, like, I remember one time I saw a salvador Dali painting one with like the elephant's reflecting its or swans reflecting into elephants or something. And it just really blew my mind. And that's where I saw where like fine art, like master style art can kind of change, like the consciousness of like a person and so I would say that's kind of the beginning.
00;03;58;24 - 00;04;15;08
James Knill:
I started working in art galleries when I was younger. It was those were like my first jobs and that's kind of how I started to learn the art industry. And yeah, that's where it goes today. And I've just kind of just evolved from that moment I describe to you.
00;04;15;24 - 00;04;41;07
Rob Lee :
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. It's it's always, always cool to learn like what some of those early those early kind of early previews. It's kind of like proto sort of vibe of what it looks like and experiencing art and experiencing what you would later return to in your own way and kind of having their feedback. And I think sometimes even for for people that are being asked, they're like, Yeah, do you remember this thing?
00;04;41;07 - 00;04;59;29
Rob Lee :
Like maybe even something earlier than that? Because I've had it happen where, you know, people may ask me because it's occasional people turn the questions back on me is like the master has had his dogs turned upon him. There's dogs being the questions and you know, just recognizing like maybe why did I have a penchant for doing interviews?
00;04;59;29 - 00;05;09;19
Rob Lee :
Why did I want to do this type of interview series or what have you? And it's something that leads to what you're doing. Sometimes it's just revisiting and then seeing in a different way.
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James Knill:
Yeah, for sure. Definitely.
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Rob Lee :
So let's let's talk about your work, your current body of work, and what are some of the main ideas that you're trying to express in that that current work? Because you're doing photography, you're you're doing oil based paintings, right?
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James Knill:
Yes. Yeah. I'm doing oil based paintings. I mean, I've been doing art for I don't really know, like three and a half decades or something. Like I mentioned before, when I would photograph the waves here in Florida, that was with film. So it was with like film. I was young. So buying the film, making the prints, developing the film like that would cost a lot of money.
00;05;56;17 - 00;06;22;28
James Knill:
And so I kind of started to and I also like to photograph nature and landscape, so I would also photograph that and, you know, kind of got to the point where it's like, you know, I could spend all the money that I had doing that because, you know, I grew up like a of a regular person. Like I started working when I was 13 because I had to kind of sustain myself.
00;06;24;04 - 00;06;57;19
James Knill:
So then I just kind of started painting because it kind of helped to offset like the costs of doing photography. So I would paint like images that I would want to photograph, which would be like maybe out in the Florida Everglade Glades with, like with like the moon or something and like birds like just very wild and so as I kept painting like that, then I kind of started morphing like the styles because I would paint really loose and it kind of turn into like abstract forms.
00;06;58;07 - 00;07;28;19
James Knill:
And I really enjoy painting abstract. For me, it's very emotional. I really feel like I'm at like the core essence of my own creativity because I'm just making what I want to make. Whereas when I'm photographing, I'm kind of observing the like the other creator, you know, the creator of our world. So I forgot what the question was, but no.
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Rob Lee :
Sorry. No, no, that was that was good. So what are you what are you expressing? What were you aimed to express in? And I think you were touching on it there. So, you know, what are your you're aiming to expressing your your current work. And I think you covered a piece of it, but if you haven't that that's kind of where the question was going.
00;07;47;25 - 00;08;14;16
James Knill:
Yeah, I think like in my current work, like right now where I've gotten to and I'm able to because now I have the resources, I would really like to go like really deep, deep into nature. I use, I like to use Google Earth and kind of or Google Maps and kind of just explore. And here in Florida, we've got some like very, very, very wild territories.
00;08;15;23 - 00;08;37;28
James Knill:
And like this past year, I went out to 10,000 islands, which a lot of people in Florida haven't even heard of. But it's it's kind of like where the Everglades mixes out into the Gulf of Mexico. And it's, you you know, I found this area, found someone who had a boat that would take me out there. I had no idea what was going to be there.
00;08;38;09 - 00;09;04;25
James Knill:
And we just went had a particular time. I wanted to go when? Late afternoon. So the light would be right. Yeah. And we just landed on just some random island and I mean it was pretty insane. It looked like Jurassic Park, this big ospreys out there flying huge nests and yeah, I mean, you know, you need resources to do that.
00;09;05;01 - 00;09;28;19
James Knill:
Yeah. And that's kind of where my work is going now. We have a show, we have our own gallery in Delray Beach. We have a show coming up in December, and I did a little exploring this past year. And so I want to kind of find like my favorite photos of that and show that in December. Yeah. So that's, that's kind of where I'm going to now.
00;09;29;08 - 00;09;47;12
James Knill:
Deeper nature, more like technical kind of scenes, just where everything just comes together, like, right, the clouds, the sunrise or sunset that just everything. But as raw nature as you could get, I think that's kind of where I want to go to and that's where I'm going to go to.
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Rob Lee :
Oh, yeah. So as an artist, when did you know, like who you were in? And I know that's kind of like a almost nebulous new new agey sort of question, but when did you know like who you were? When would you be able to affix the term art is affix the title, artist, photographer and so on to who you are as a person.
00;10;11;15 - 00;10;31;05
Rob Lee :
And what sort of work were you doing before you really made that discovery in like in know, use, use this an example before I got into a space where I was like, I'm doing this, I'm documenting this, I'm telling these stories or facilitating storytelling. I was just to do with a microphone being a jerk, just, hey, what do you have to say about this?
00;10;31;05 - 00;10;48;12
Rob Lee :
Is putting microphones on people's faces, asking questions. And it was a more refined sort of approach to it. And at that time, when I was doing that, I really didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to capture those moments. And as I kind of touched on later, when you arrive at it later, it's like, Oh, this is what I was doing.
00;10;48;12 - 00;10;54;17
Rob Lee :
I just didn't know what to call it and it didn't have the maturity or what have you attached to it. So, so tell me about that.
00;10;54;20 - 00;11;19;08
James Knill:
Like the stuff that I was doing in the past before I had that, that moment was just like I was saying before, it was like the old school skateboard style, like whatever, skulls and snakes and stuff coming out of the skull and also mixed with like comic book kind of themes and like these sci fi scenes that I would just draw like big with like spaceships and stuff.
00;11;19;08 - 00;11;53;04
James Knill:
And that, that was when I was really young. But I would say maybe when I was a junior or a senior in high school, I took a trip to Portugal and somebody lent me a camera. I went to the Algarve, a region in Portugal which is like the southern, like very rugged on the coast. I had no idea how to operate a camera, just a click and collect, you know, I didn't know any of the technical things like ISO stop, shutter speed.
00;11;53;07 - 00;12;36;18
James Knill:
Sure. So I was really absorbed into like what I was saying. I was very mesmerized because it was very, very powerful scenes that I was looking at. Just the massive cliffs, the really rough ocean. I mean, it was gorgeous. And I would just go all the time and just obsessively photograph until I ran out of film. And when I came home and developed all the photos, like, a lot of people were really amazed at what they look like and then my dad had bought me a $200 maxim and all to film.
00;12;36;18 - 00;13;00;08
James Knill:
Camera was like a small little slr Manila to Manila. So it's not even around anymore. Not their Sony, though, but that's kind of where I knew right there. That's where I'm like, Yeah, yeah, I love this. And I got a camera and I'm just going to whatever, whatever happens, happens. And I just kind of kept going from there, Hey.
00;13;01;08 - 00;13;25;26
Rob Lee :
I like when we can trick ourselves. I think when we're doing something creative, it's sometimes you have to set in parameters of constraints or what have you to make the work feel interesting because, you know, like as you were touching on earlier, before we got started, like doing a lot of interviews, for instance, on my end of this, this whole thing, you don't want to ask the same questions.
00;13;25;26 - 00;13;52;26
Rob Lee :
So you might I mean, ask this question or maybe I'll go into this in a different way. And sometimes the interviews may feel like play like I'm just having a conversation with a buddy and it's like it will come through to the listener, like, do you know this person already? He's like, No, I don't. So so tell me about those instances where when you're working, whether it's photography, where there's painting, whether it's even working in the gallery because there's something creative there as well.
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Rob Lee :
Wendy Wink Make work, feel like it's play.
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James Knill:
I mean, I think like that's kind of always play at this point. That's my that's kind of my goal. That's how I want to kind of envision what I'm doing. You know, having my own gallery is really great because I can do things the way I want to do them. Yeah. And when I'm doing photography and I'm just out in the zone and I mean I'm really in the zone and it feels so good.
00;14;28;14 - 00;15;00;27
James Knill:
And that's what I when I know, you know, that's, that's my kind of purpose or my calling and my goal is just to blend work and play and whatever it is. That's what I want to do. So I kind of think it's always play until the point where I'm like, okay, wait, I got a lot of stuff going on and somehow I got to start like, you know, putting the foot on the gas and getting stuff done.
00;15;00;27 - 00;15;21;25
James Knill:
But that kind of happens when we do shows and things like that and it's always worth doing it. And we had a we have a show right now in Baltimore and we had to drive it up to Baltimore, and we did it in five days and it was fun. We stopped in a couple of places, but that kind of felt like work when we were done that.
00;15;22;00 - 00;15;44;17
James Knill:
So but I mean, it's, it's I just stay positive and have fun and just always try to make it play at this point. So and I think that's kind of a goal for me to just keep it at play. I'm always playing. I'm always serious, though.
00;15;44;17 - 00;16;11;27
Rob Lee :
So that's that's the thing. You're serious about your play, you know? Yeah. So let's talk about the process a little bit. And, and that they have this, this, this question has some other bullet points with it. But let's let's talk about your process. Let's talk about the painting process. How what's like something that's in the beginning metal and something that's towards the end when you're like, all right, I think this is ready.
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Rob Lee :
I think this this piece is done. Tell me about that process.
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James Knill:
Yeah, well, the painting process is like I go, I do phases because paintings takes a lot of energy and photography takes a lot of energy. And I'll notice, like, I'll be in like a photography phase, which is what I'm in right now, and then I'll, then a painting phase will happen. But it's basically painting kind of weird for me a little bit because it's like I have a vision.
00;16;39;06 - 00;17;05;04
James Knill:
Sure, it pops into my mind, this vision, and then I kind of have to, I meditate, you know, and and if I meditate on that vision, that's in my mind, I'll see the steps on how to do it. So once I see that, then I just start doing the steps. So it's like basically I do like a base coat and I paint an oil, so it's kind of got a dry or B stable to work with.
00;17;07;01 - 00;17;36;00
James Knill:
So I'll do a base coat and I'll probably do multiples also. And then once that's dry takes about a week, I do the next layer, then that dries and then the next slider or however many layers it needs. But the thing with painting is once I start a painting, it kind of like opens up the portal and I start seeing all these different ideas and then I'm like, Oh, like, you know, that could be done here and blah blah blah, that's there.
00;17;36;00 - 00;18;02;24
James Knill:
And so that's how the painting phase is start and yeah, just do it, kind of get lost in it. And paintings can be like landscapes and sometimes I like to paint really loose landscapes and that's where I start to see how the colors work and the, you know, where everything's kind of how like the blue looks up against the red and how they contrast.
00;18;02;24 - 00;18;19;14
James Knill:
And that's where I'll kind of do go into like a color theory style, like, so I'll have the landscape in front of me and I'll have like this color theory to the left of it. And then another idea pops up. So I'll have another canvas in my studio, like over there, and then it's just, you know, waiting for each one to dry.
00;18;19;15 - 00;18;47;05
James Knill:
And but they take a long time to do. There's a lot a lot of hours that go into them and but it's very meditative and I think painting allows me to really express my true creative self. And like I mentioned earlier, that's where I create what I want. Photography, I'm kind of composing something that the creator has created and.
00;18;47;28 - 00;19;09;26
Rob Lee :
That's like it's. And in which ways do you feel like having having that approach of being able to from the painting side, kind of doing what you you want and from the photography side kind of taking from what's there and using your eye to maybe view it in a different way. But still it's parameters that are there. Do does the painting make you a better photographer?
00;19;09;26 - 00;19;11;13
Rob Lee :
This photography make you a better painter.
00;19;11;28 - 00;19;45;13
James Knill:
I think. I mean, that's a good question. And I, I would kind of maybe say that the painting definitely helps me to make a better photographer because I think painting is definitely about composition. And I take those that composition like technicality kind of thing into the photography because the photography for me has got to be really composed. Like everything has to really fit where it's supposed to be.
00;19;46;27 - 00;20;11;00
James Knill:
A painting definitely has to be composed properly, you know, it's got to be balanced. So I think I bring that the balance of the painting into my photography. And also I guess I kind of try to make my paintings look like their photos, you know, in a way. I mean, I try to make my photos look like they're paintings.
00;20;12;09 - 00;20;41;08
James Knill:
Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I mean, they make sense, I guess, in different ways. I do notice when I do paint and I'm working with the colors and then I go outside and photograph, it's like the colors are very vivid, you know, the greens and the nature of the sky. It's all just boom, like vivid. And that's like a very special time when I'm mixing the two together and I'm really at like the pinnacle of my creativity.
00;20;41;15 - 00;20;41;24
James Knill:
Yeah.
00;20;42;23 - 00;21;05;01
Rob Lee :
So this is the last real question before I get to some of these rapid fire questions for you. And this is actually kind of falls into two to the beginning of the rapid fire questions. I feel like artists have a certain esthetic that they present and obviously you have presented see as esthetic, I see this leopard print sort of shirt that's going on for for people.
00;21;05;25 - 00;21;19;27
Rob Lee :
So what would you say your your artist's esthetic is like, you know, as far as like what you're presenting as an artist, not necessarily the work, but how you come out there into the world. Like what do you present, you know, as as James?
00;21;19;27 - 00;21;54;26
James Knill:
Oh, man, you know, I'm doing what I really, really in my soul want to do. Yeah. How that comes off to other viewers, I don't know, really. You know, I have no idea what I'm showing. I do try to make it kind of as raw as possible. I'm in photography. I'm definitely connecting to whatever it is I'm photographing, whether it's like a nature surfing or even like just street portraits, things like that.
00;21;54;26 - 00;22;28;06
James Knill:
So I'm really trying to just capture like the essence of just just raw reality that could be totally biased because obviously that's my lens that I'm kind of expressing. But, you know, I'm not worried. It's things are I think my style is different. I don't really hold myself to doing like one style where I do it over and over, kind of like branding myself like I'm, you know, the artist that only paints like a blue chair in every painting kind of thing.
00;22;28;19 - 00;22;59;07
James Knill:
I like, want to do really what's like, really like. A It's like I was saying with paintings and the ideas are like really downloaded into me and I feel like it's like the creative spirit that's like, do this, do you know what I'm saying? And so I guess just the rawness I want people to really connect with what they're looking at and maybe even the seriousness of like reality.
00;22;59;19 - 00;23;18;29
James Knill:
Yeah, definitely the beauty. Like I really try to focus on more positive and more beautiful things instead of like having like a darker, cynical message. So a little bit more like hope and inspiration for, you know, the culture of people.
00;23;19;17 - 00;23;42;27
Rob Lee :
No, I appreciate that. That's great. And I think, you know, it's interesting. Like, I think we we leave it out of a lot of times we have the viewer have their their point of view, what have you. And that's very valid and all of that stuff. But also kind of having a sense of what the what are we aiming for and what type of work interests us and things of that nature.
00;23;42;27 - 00;24;02;15
Rob Lee :
And are we doing the work that interests us? So sometimes it's important to kind of tap back in and as I, you know, touched on before we got started, you know, I mean, it starts off with curiosity. Am I interested in talking with this person? And if this is if this is my work, this is the canvas or what have you, it's just like, all right, I'm at least interested.
00;24;02;15 - 00;24;29;21
Rob Lee :
Now, let's see what we get from that. Then the conversation could go left, it could go right, it could be a ten minute conversation. But ultimately, it's starting off with this notion of what's interesting. And I think what I aim to do is, is find something that is interesting, is something that I can even ask other questions based off of, other than the customary tell me about your work sort of stuff, but really what's behind it?
00;24;29;21 - 00;24;32;11
Rob Lee :
What's under the work was the thinking that goes into it?
00;24;32;26 - 00;24;55;06
James Knill:
Yeah, that's definitely important. And I think once you can start to see that, that's really where things change for the viewer, you know, just imagining like how to how that picture was even taken or where I was or what I really like, or when people think that the pictures are fake, they're not even real because they just looked so surreal.
00;24;55;20 - 00;25;15;12
James Knill:
But they are real, you know? And I mean, if I can get the moon in it, that even helps even more because then it starts to look more sci fi. Yeah, but you know, I'm just trying to kind of give an outlook to people that are kind of maybe don't ever go outside and they're just they work and then they get to go home.
00;25;15;22 - 00;25;30;16
James Knill:
Yeah. And you know, I'm just trying to show that there's a whole universe out there and we're part of it and, you know, go there and know. You'll see. We'll see. Whatever. Just see. God, you know what I'm saying?
00;25;30;17 - 00;25;47;24
Rob Lee :
Like it is things that we we take advantage and sometimes we just look at, take advantage of and or take for granted. And we just look at it as, Oh, this is just ordinary, what have you. It's like the moon is right there and it is the brightest it's ever been. This is this landscape, this right in front of you.
00;25;47;24 - 00;25;58;25
Rob Lee :
You just go out there, you can just see this and it just kind of brings you back down. It's almost a a grounding sort of thing sometimes when you're looking at this sort of imagery that you're describing.
00;25;59;15 - 00;26;22;29
James Knill:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. And that's like what kind of that's kind of like the level I want to hit is it's like that grounding, which I think is like I feel it's like our, our primal, you know, like chord that's in us. And it's like maybe a part of us is even, like, yearning to, to go there.
00;26;22;29 - 00;26;29;01
James Knill:
You know, people live in cities and that's cool. You know, I go to Baltimore a lot. My wife is from Baltimore.
00;26;29;27 - 00;26;32;05
Rob Lee :
Yeah.
00;26;32;05 - 00;26;58;08
James Knill:
And I was married in Baltimore. And we go there a lot. And I mean, cities are cool or we go to Miami once in a while. They're big cities. But I mean, it's like concrete everywhere. And I'm like, I don't know. You know, there's something like that trying to knock anybody or anything, but it's maybe I've got a different mindset.
00;26;59;05 - 00;27;23;11
Rob Lee :
Look at what you're saying. It's connection. It's something about changing just what you're into all the time. And you hear it from people who at least I've heard it from different artists that are here, and they're around this concrete, they're around these buildings and this what this kind of a visual is. And then when they go out to, hey, I was in Seattle and I was in the woods and I was checking out stuff for here, there.
00;27;23;20 - 00;27;45;12
Rob Lee :
And it's like, this is giving me different perspectives. Or it's always interesting seeing someone who is definitely from a city and it's like, I like drawing or I like painting these sort of painterly, picturesque, like landscapes that are just lush greenery. And that's not what they're seeing, but it's what they're craving. And and that's the thing. That's the thing that really kind of interests me.
00;27;46;15 - 00;28;05;26
James Knill:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. I remember recently we were up in Baltimore and we were walking to a restaurant with some friends and we were having like a nice conversation, like a little bit on like the metaphysical or whatever spiritual kind of thing. And he was like, Yeah, I can see God there in the tree. And I'm like, That's great.
00;28;07;05 - 00;28;07;20
Rob Lee :
That's funny.
00;28;08;06 - 00;28;33;10
James Knill:
But whatever. But I'm glad, you know, he can get that feeling from from the tree. But like I was saying, I want to go deeper into nature. That's going to be my next goal for my upcoming work. And sure, there are places that are hard to get to, but that's my focus. It's going to be my goal and we'll kind of see what happens.
00;28;33;24 - 00;28;50;05
Rob Lee :
As you said it earlier, this is what I'm doing, so I love it. So with that, I think that's a good place for us to kind of wrap on the real questions. I got I got about five I got five rapid fire questions for you. Okay. And you know, as I say all the time, I don't overthink. I'm not overthink got overthink it.
00;28;51;11 - 00;28;59;05
Rob Lee :
All right. So see, what are the three colors that you love to use? Mostly your paintings.
00;28;59;05 - 00;29;29;03
James Knill:
I use cerulean blue, cadmium, red and cadmium, light yellow hue. And that's it. I mean, I only use those three colors and which is kind of weird. I don't know why, but I'll just because those are the primary colors and from primary colors you can get any color pretty much, I mean, to a point and I don't know, it's just easier for me and I have no idea why I started doing that.
00;29;29;03 - 00;29;41;22
James Knill:
But it's I use black and white for lightning and for darkening. But yeah, I just pretty much only use primary colors.
00;29;42;11 - 00;29;49;22
Rob Lee :
I love it. Simplify it. Favorite Marvel movie. You touched on it earlier, so I had to put this question there. What is your favorite Marvel movie?
00;29;50;09 - 00;30;18;06
James Knill:
Oh, man, that's kind of hard. I would I mean, I know infinity. Infinity Wars and Endgame are amazing, but I'm kind of liking the new doctor. Strange and only because of Scarlet Witch. That's the main reason. I mean, I think she's probably my favorite character. I kind of like her. She's got went through all this, like, tragedy and stuff, and it's just powerful and very serious and her lines in that movie are awesome.
00;30;18;22 - 00;30;27;06
Rob Lee :
Yes, they are. When we get to the Illuminati, I was like, This is going to go left. It's not going to work out for you guys, I don't think.
00;30;27;06 - 00;30;49;09
James Knill:
Yeah, I mean, it was that whole scene was crazy, but I really liked when she was I forgot what you call the place where like Doctor Strange and all his, like all the people are where she went and kind of attacked that whole area. Yeah. I mean, that was amazing. That was just cool. You know, I like when she's like, I've been this is me being reasonable.
00;30;49;17 - 00;30;49;28
Rob Lee :
Yes.
00;30;50;02 - 00;30;57;00
James Knill:
Yeah, no. But yeah. So I mean, I'm I might say that I mean, a lot of them are good. I thought black widows lost.
00;30;57;08 - 00;31;20;29
Rob Lee :
Absolutely. I think some of them don't get the amount of love that they should. And you're the first person that's thrown out Scarlet Witch. So shout out to you on that, because I think it was an interesting take and it's been a interesting probably about year for that character between Wandavision and the Multiverse of Madness. Yeah, it's. It's good.
00;31;21;14 - 00;31;26;23
James Knill:
Yeah. Yeah. And I like Wandavision a lot. That was a good show. And I liked Loki also.
00;31;26;29 - 00;31;28;06
Rob Lee :
I loved Loki. Yeah.
00;31;28;16 - 00;31;34;17
James Knill:
That was amazing. Ragnarok is good. I don't know about the new Thor and I was kind of like.
00;31;34;17 - 00;31;35;12
Rob Lee :
5050 on that one.
00;31;35;20 - 00;31;41;08
James Knill:
Yes. Because the jokes, you know, I know they're jokes, but they're not they weren't even funny. That's just my opinion.
00;31;42;08 - 00;31;57;03
Rob Lee :
On the same page. I mean, a lot of people will agree with that. So I'm expecting this next one. I'm expecting a South Florida esque answer here. Sunrise or sunset? Which one of you you're digging for me?
00;31;57;04 - 00;32;01;18
James Knill:
Sunrise for sure. Okay, thanks. I love sunrises.
00;32;02;16 - 00;32;05;22
Rob Lee :
In which season are you most productive.
00;32;06;13 - 00;32;23;06
James Knill:
For art? Yeah. I'm going to have to say the summer, summer and fall. Now, you know, this time. And that's just because the gallery slows down. But you want to talk about productive, like business wise.
00;32;23;18 - 00;32;24;19
Rob Lee :
Oh, yeah.
00;32;25;17 - 00;33;02;06
James Knill:
I mean, that's winter time and spring as everybody comes down here. We have all the snowbirds and we're busy, you know, busy selling or just things like that, just busy in the gallery doing shows and stuff. But obviously that's going to take away from my time doing artwork, but I would say like summer and fall because summer I can I'm able to travel this fall because that's when our services and really starts and I'll be doing a lot of surfing photography.
00;33;02;06 - 00;33;07;18
James Knill:
So yeah, that, that's when I'm productive doing art.
00;33;08;14 - 00;33;22;26
Rob Lee :
Okay. So here's the last one I got for you and this is this one of my fellow Politico for me because of what I'm into. But I'll ask you because I like to know I like to know who I'm talking to. You could tell a lot by a man and what their preference is here. Coffee or tea?
00;33;23;12 - 00;33;37;19
James Knill:
Oh, man, I do both. I know if I had to pick one. Oh, gosh. I mean, coffee in the morning. And I just one of my favorite things to do. I just love smelling the coffee bag. I'm just like.
00;33;39;04 - 00;33;40;09
Rob Lee :
That's good start.
00;33;41;28 - 00;33;49;05
James Knill:
But then at night, man, tea with honey and lemon. So I don't know what to tell you.
00;33;49;05 - 00;34;06;07
Rob Lee :
No, I mean, that's a that's a good answer. I mean, you know, I enjoy it. Sometimes you got to balance it out if you haven't eaten enough like a drink. Very strong coffee. You usually let me get a read. I let me get this, let me get a cold brew. And it's a lot of caffeine in there and it's almost concentrated in some regards.
00;34;06;07 - 00;34;24;09
Rob Lee :
So it's like trying to balance that out and you know, definitely the green tea in the afternoon or especially in the in the winter times when it's like get a little sinus or something like that, the tea and the tea use increases because you can't just drink caffeine of that degree all day.
00;34;24;22 - 00;34;50;13
James Knill:
Right? Yeah. I mean, if you're going to put it like that, if I had to pick one or the other for the rest of my life, I end up picking tea. And that's just because I wouldn't want, like, caffeine, like, all the time. Yeah. So I do coffee in the morning, but after like 11, no coffee. Okay, but I like teas cause you can kind of mess around with different herbs and I guess it's coming out a little bit more.
00;34;51;11 - 00;34;55;21
James Knill:
I don't know if adventurous is the right word, but could explore a little bit more with teas.
00;34;56;03 - 00;35;22;21
Rob Lee :
I did. Yeah, it's it's almost kind of like describing photography and painting a little bit where he described it earlier. So yeah, this is kind of here. Not really much I can do with it as far as the coffee goes, but tea, it's my own thing with it. So with that, I think that's where we'll wrap in. I want to thank you for for coming on to this podcast and indulging me and chopping it out with me and to I want to invite and encourage you to tell the fine folks where to check out you, the gallery, social media, all that good stuff.
00;35;22;28 - 00;35;23;21
Rob Lee :
The floor is yours.
00;35;24;05 - 00;35;58;17
James Knill:
So thank you. I have a website w w w dot James Nell keneally dot com. We have the gallery website. Amanda James gallery dot com my instagram james underscore nil k and i l and I do have an exhibit in Baltimore right now. Gallery Blue Door and it's entire body of work that I did in Havana, Cuba and it's been a good body of work.
00;35;58;17 - 00;36;23;15
James Knill:
I've showed it and started a museum here. I showed it a few times and people are really interested in it because I guess a lot of people don't go to Cuba and don't know what it looks like. And, you know, so it's that'll be there, Gallery, Blue Door and Park Avenue and Mount Vernon and that'll be up until October 8th and October 8th.
00;36;23;15 - 00;36;35;20
James Knill:
We'll be doing a closing party there from to six. So I'll be there and it'd be cool if you want to come check it out and you know, bring some people and yeah.
00;36;35;20 - 00;36;37;10
Rob Lee :
So it's a little bit.
00;36;37;24 - 00;36;38;23
James Knill:
That's ready to catch me.
00;36;39;04 - 00;36;57;22
Rob Lee :
So they have folks I want to again thank James No for coming on to the podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art even between Baltimore and Florida. You just got to look for it.
