T.J. Cunningham (Vermont, USA) grew up amidst small farms and wooded hillsides crisscrossed by streams. Landscapes that made Aldro Hibbard and Emile Gruppe famous, and which were also a source of inspiration  for T.J. in his early years. But if our Tartget judge is now a renowned painter, it’s mainly because that was his family heritage for several generations. They taught him that one can devote their life to oil and brushes and be fully happy.

Cunningham learned the handling of oil technique from Brian Jekel at Pensacola Christian College. He spent four years taking classes led by various teachers who especially instructed him in representational painting. Those initiatory techniques still form the basis of his creations today.

Not much time has passed since then. In fact, just four years after graduating (2014), he received his first recognition from Southwest Art, which named him an emerging artist in their article “21 under 31”. Since then, his landscape paintings have won awards from the PleinAir Salon, the Portrait Society of America, the Art Renewal Center, and the Oil Painters of America.

For T.J. Cunningham, life is more than art, which is why one of the great benefits of his vocation is being able to dedicate time to his family. In all his paintings, his wife Julie and their four children are always present. They are his support and also his deep religious sentiment… and it is written, as he signs all his paintings with a small “PTL” (Praise The Lord).