Most of us try to bottle a passing moment with a quick photo, already knowing the image won’t capture what we’re seeing. Jason Bailey responds differently. When a scene stops him in his tracks, he reaches for brushes and canvas. As a plein-air artist, he paints in the middle of it all, chasing the light as it shifts in front of him.
“Cameras focus on the highlights and the darks, but not really in the middle,” Jason said. “A lot of your color and the way the light interacts is in the midtones.”
Jason paints the parts of Paducah that are often overlooked: shadows moving across an old building, the way the light hits a window at a certain time, even alleyways if the sun is sitting just right. Paducah’s beautifully preserved historic buildings offer him the perfect subject when he’s searching for inspiration for his next piece. He keeps his supplies in his car because he never knows when he’ll see something that can be translated onto a canvas for someone else to enjoy.
“I might drive by one day and see a street scene and think, ‘Oh, I want to paint that. It looks nice at this time of day,’” Jason recalls. “It’s just the way it strikes me in the moment usually.”
His passion for fleeting moments fuels his work. As an artist, it’s important to have a solid grasp of your own intuition. For Jason, it’s an asset in finding the right moment. “I don’t just do portraits of a building,” he said. “I’ll do the whole scene, the whole street scene and the way it moves.” Capturing motion—the way the wind flows through trees or a glare travels across glass—s one of his go-to ways to elevate a painting. He uses bold strokes, splatters, and thick palette knife work to enhance a moment and give it life.
Jason draws inspiration from all eras. His passion for painting accelerated in high school while studying French impressionists. He was also drawn to the Renaissance and the artists who wove life into their paintings using various techniques.
“It just struck me—the colors,” he said. “In reading and doing research, I found that [Renaissance artists] went outside and painted.” Jason mentions the French impressionist Monet and his technique of returning to the same spot to paint it multiple times. Finding different viewpoints on the same subject is one way he adds dimension to his work. Going to the same alley, he might skip painting the same dumpster he did last time and notice a telephone pole instead. Or he might paint the Grand Lodge building each time he drops his kids off at music lessons. He even experiments with painting a building through his rearview mirror to challenge his idea of perspective.
Starting at a young age, Jason developed an appreciation for art while visiting his aunt, who would let him tag along on business trips. As his biggest supporter while he was growing up, she made sure his interest didn’t get lost along the way. “We’d gallery hop every time I was in Nashville,” he remembered.
Today, that passion has grown into a practice deeply rooted in Paducah. Jason appreciates the city’s quiet atmosphere and rich history whispered throughout. The preserved architecture and changing light give him a vast array of material. For an artist who works by intuition, Paducah is a place where a familiar block can look entirely new just a couple of hours later.
What sets Jason’s work apart isn’t just what he paints, but how he paints it. He doesn’t aim for stillness. He’s always looking for motion. He wants viewers to experience the sun dropping behind a building or the falling of leaves as the seasons change. The result is work that feels alive, as though the light he’s transferred to the canvas might keep moving after you step away.
Over the years, his work has found its way into local galleries and community exhibitions, like the Members Exhibition at Yeiser Art Center, helping him connect with residents and visitors who stumble upon his pieces. These events put him shoulder to shoulder with other painters and storytellers, a reminder that Paducah’s creative identity is built collaboratively. Through his plein-air pieces, Jason has documented many parts of Paducah. He’s captured historic buildings, old signage, and the city as it evolves. That contribution makes his work part of the city’s creative memory.
For now, Jason is continuing his work toward capturing the still nature of Paducah. His current piece, a “peacefully eerie” night scene draped in fog, offers a challenge in exploring a change in perspective and setting. In April, Jason will participate in the Plein Air Paintout in New Harmony, IN, a tradition that has provided community and inspiration for years. Immediately following that, he plans to attend Atlanta’s Olmstead Plein Air Invitational, which features the nation’s top plein air artists.
Check out Jason’s work on his Instagram or website:
@jasonbaileyfineart
jasonbaileyfineart.com
