Jessop’s Journal Entry
By Douglas Jessop, ABC4 News,
You’ve probably heard the phrase “starving artist.” My reply to that is another phrase “we all have to start somewhere.” In this episode of Jessop’s Journal, I had the pleasure of visiting with a very talented and successful artist, Greg Newbold.
It is interesting how people connect with each other. As most people know, I wear custom hats all the time. A very nice drawing of actor Sam Elliot wearing a hat showed up on my social media following. I contacted the artist (yes, it was Greg Newbold) and found out the back story (watch the video to get details) and invited him to come on Jessop’s Journal. By the way, don’t forget to pay attention to the opening graphics of Jessop’s Journal with a very cool new picture of me that Greg drew for me.
When I say successful, I’m saying this is Greg’s “day job” and it has been for decades. He told me; “I actually sold a couple of paintings when I was in 8th grade. Fifty bucks. I was rolling in it. Through high school, I would have friends, can you draw this for me. Sure, ten bucks, twenty bucks. Whatever. By the time I got up into my upper years of high school I was selling paintings for two – three hundred dollars and figured I could figure this out. So it went from there.”
The mantra that I have used for years regarding TV stories is “good stories and pretty pictures.” Greg brought a lot of pretty pictures to our Jessop’s Journal interview and the stories came naturally.
One of my favorite paintings Greg showed me was familiar… but different. You’ve probably seen that Grant Wood painting called “American Gothic” of an older couple in front of a farm with the guy holding a pitchfork. Come to find out it as an illustration for the first picture book that Greg and his wife, Amy Newbold did together. It’s called “If Picasso painted a snowman.”
Greg explained; “The backstory is my wife took a girl’s trip with her sister to the Paris at the Picasso museum and she was amazed at the breadth of this guy’s career. She thought, I wonder what it would look like if Picasso painted a snowman and her sister turned to her and said, you should write that. That would be a great picture book.”
The picture book did indeed become a success. Greg and Amy have done two more (so far). “If Monet Painted a Monster” and “If DaVinci Painted a Dinosaur.”
It is clear that Greg is passionate about art and wants to encourage the rising generation of artists. “We are trying to help kids see that you can paint and draw any way you want. There’s this point in your growing up years that they all love to draw and then they hit a certain age where somebody tells them their not doing it right or they feel intimidated because there not as good as that kid or whatever and they stop. What we are trying to do is say, hey, art is awesome. Have fun with it. Do art however you want and it’s okay. Just be creative.”
On a personal note…surprise, surprise, I was the kid that got in trouble from writing outside the lines. I’m glad that Greg Newbold kept ongoing. Please consider following me at www.DougJessop.com, www.YouTube.com/dougjessop, www.Facebook.com/dougjessopnews, www.Instagram.com/dougjessopnews, and www.Twitter.com/dougjessopnews.
Jessop’s Journal is something special when it comes to broadcast news. I have the honor of being able to do longer in-depth interviews that you don’t normally see with people from all walks of life.
I strongly feel that “stories have power”. Chances are that if you are going through something, that someone else probably has as well. The shared
experiences we humans have can help each other. That my friend makes the point that stories “help us understand each other.”
A big shout out goes to my collaborator, Ed Wilets, who does a great job as my videographer/editor for all my stories. I invite you to watch each episode of Jessop’s Journal at www.ABC4.com/Journal and share these stories with your friends and neighbors. Your feedback is always welcome. Other episodes of Jessop’s Journal can be seen at www.ABC4.com/Journal and are made possible by the generous support of Rustico, Tailor Cooperative, JW Custom Hats, Ogden’s Own Distillery, and Life Never Boring.
Stories have power. They help us understand each other. With another entry into Jessop ‘s Journal, I’m Doug Jessop, ABC4 News.
