The artist Jim Warren finds ideas to be the most important part of his paintings, though they can be difficult to find. He discusses how ideas come from the imagination and are a joy when they arrive but frustrating when absent. Warren also notes that observing dangerous yet beautiful natural phenomena could make for interesting paintings, though he wouldn't want to experience them firsthand. The document introduces Warren as an unusual self-taught artist who defies categories and combines elements of surrealism and realism in his work.

15. Ideas, to me are the most important part of my paintings. They can also be the hardest. You can't find them in your drawers. You can't buy them at the mall. You can only get them from your own imagination. They are a joy when they come, and a frustration when they don't. They are why I paint. Jim Warren

17. Do you know what?s important about finding a place, somewhere in time where your mind can unlace. Where the beauty of visiting slows down the pace, and the senses are exposed to a sharp ?about-face?.

18. The point is well taken and called introspect, a world all in harmony that is picture perfect. A place drawn from visions like those seen as a kid, images that are breathtaking ~ appear enchanted.

19. Nature & Beauty that are right on the track, bring on the feeling ~ take up the slack. Slow down the real world from inside the mind, and reflect in the pleasure of eternal time.

20. It takes just one visit to want to come back, to a place where there?s safety and not an attack. Enjoying the moment and the feeling within, your life becomes peaceful and all genuine.

21. Worry and mind games and thinking too much, results in much clutter ~ then used as a crutch. Learn how to wind down and calm down instead, ...develop the eyes in back of your head.

22. That place we all search for should be easy to find... and it?s created from images within our own mind. Meditate on this vision and reside in that place, a feeling of comfort ~ Pressure Erased.

34. It occured to me recently that some of the most dangerous elements in the world are also the most beautiful and intriguing to watch. I think it makes for a great painting, but I wouldn't want to be there! Jim Warren

35. It's not all that easy to see beauty in fear, frozen in time as your world disappears. It is part of the message required by life, to see the reality ~ sometimes played out as strife.

36. Why take a ride that is not very clear, placed in the position of a forced volunteer. Trying to taste the unquenchable thirst, learning the lessons for better or worse.

37. It's actually an experience like cause & effect, the power of fury ?not yet learned to direct. Most say the vision is hard and intense, some see the light from its harsh consequence.

38. It's part of the test spent in this paradigm, to feel the hot summer in the cold wintertime. Seeing life's opposites is a lot to digest, the inverse reflection that has not manifest.

44. You are about to experience a most unusual artist. A self-taught painter, Jim Warren defies artistic category. A Los Angeles newspaper described him as "somewhere between Dali and Rockwell." Born: Nov 24, 1949 in Long Beach

45. Choose for you - VILI www.slideshare.net/vili48 Pictures Jim Warren