John M Standish Biography

Trained in advertising and graphic design, J.M. Standish spent 12 years as a commercial artist while trying to find his way as a painter. “In over eighteen years as a professional artist,” he says, “I’ve come to realize that being self taught in the fine arts has been my greatest asset in developing a distinctive style as a realist painter.”

Standish works in watercolor and in egg tempera, an old masters’ medium that dates back more than two thousand years. Egg tempera painting is a meticulous, time-consuming process that requires a great deal of preparation, discipline and patience - which is why, he observes, few artists currently work in this medium. Applying the paint requires a building and layering of color, and Standish often uses up to 20 layers to create the particular effect he wants.

“I try to achieve a sense of solace in my paintings, partly in the subjects I choose to paint, partly from the colors I choose, partly in my choice of mediums,” he says. “Each painting creates a new challenge, new discoveries in my mediums, rekindling a spirit within that makes art more than a rewarding, satisfying profession....it makes art a way of life.”