Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin White.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My mom would tell you that my journey as an artist started with pushing finger-paints as a toddler. She often recalls the day I created something with a distinct background and foreground, and she filed my art away as a potential talent. Personally, I would tell you my current journey effectively began at age 38, when I decided to unearth the passion for painting and creating that I’d left buried for the better part of 20 years.
I had drawn my entire childhood and learned to paint as an Art major in college, graduating William & Mary in 2006 as an English and Studio Art double major. But over the following chapters of life, those artistic muscles all but atrophied as I set aside the time needed to create in favor of other good and necessary callings like caregiving, parenting, and over a decade in ministry. But when I got back on the horse and started painting with regularity in 2023, I realized the instincts had not gone away. The skills I’d learned just needed to be unearthed, and atrophied muscles needed to be worked out again.
In 2023, at age 38, I committed to carving out a small space in the garage to paint most nights after my son fell asleep and things settled down (it’s another reason I’ve never done a series of landscapes – when I get time to paint it’s dark outside!). And I haven’t stopped. While my work has graced magazines, galleries, and museum walls in the years since 2023, I still paint in a corner of the garage. In a way, if I waited for the “perfect” time or place to create then I’d still be waiting. So I take what I can in terms of time and space and continue to grind. And truthfully, that grind has only been for a few years now, and I feel like my story as an artist is truly only beginning.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Less than a year into our marriage in 2010, my wife Steph started experiencing severe and unpredictable health issues. It was a long, frustrating journey to arrive at her Ehlers Danlos Syndrome diagnosis. Long story short, she deals daily with a constellation of debilitating conditions ranging from dislocating joints, to light headedness, to migraines, and more. It has resulted in multiple brain surgeries, emergency procedures, and some stays in the hospital that we didn’t know if she’d survive. And around the same time she arrived at her diagnosis? We arrived in India to complete the marathon adoption of our son. He too arrived with his own special needs and conditions we would advocate for. So suffice to say, caregiving eclipsed creating for a long chapter of my life. And I have zero regrets.
But it wasn’t until 2023 – 13 years into marriage and 7 years into parenting – that I scratched my itch to create. I built out a humble little space in my garage between the laundry and a shelf of tools. I still find myself starting entirely too late and sacrificing rest, but there is something to be said about the benefit of restful activities like painting. The years of health scares and daily caregiving have produced hyper-vigilance and anxiety, but painting is an off ramp that helps me turn all of that off. I’m not sure I would have maintained the same mental health if I wasn’t habitually slowing down to practice mindfulness and creativity.
So I like to think I still qualify as an “emerging artist.” But based on personal appearance, I look like I am emerging from the trenches, with grays in my beard and bags under my eyes to boot.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in oil painting, with a passion for portraiture. In a culture where we are quick to marginalize people groups and social media turns flesh and blood into avatars – I find that there’s power in portrait painting. Portraiture forces us to behold humanity again. It puts a frame around somebody and says “this is worthy of your attention.” And whether it’s for 20 seconds or 20 minutes, we dignify another human being by beholding them.
Anybody who has followed my brief painting journey will recognize my son as he’s my most prolific muse. Specifically, the paintings of him blowing bubbles under our skylight where he watches them pop and shouts “snow!” as the particles fall in the sunlight. Different paintings of my son blowing bubbles have received inclusion in the MOCA’s Made in VA Biennial, an award for best oil painting at the Suffolk Art League’s 50th Anniversary juried show, as well as selection for numerous other juried shows along the way.
I’m proud of that because my son is severely underrepresented in our culture, both in terms of his ethnicity and his special needs. But at this point it’s gotten to the point where he all but expects to see himself at any “aht show” (as he calls them). Society may push those with disability aside, but I’ve worked hard to make sure Raj also knows the feeling of being showcased and celebrated.
I’ve painted my wife far less in terms of the sheer volume. And unless Steph is wearing a neck brace or using a rollator or alike, her illnesses would qualify as “unseen illnesses.” And yet I’ve painted multiple portraits of her where she is reclining or at rest, and multiple people with their own health conditions have recognized and commented on the look of exhausted, yet blissful rest that only those in chronic pain can understand. To be able to capture not just Steph’s likeness but that part of her health journey in a recognizable way is deeply meaningful to me.
While my style or the quality of my painting itself may not set itself apart, I truly believe that all of the above makes my art unique. I wouldn’t be the same artist today without first dedicating my bandwidth in life to loving my wife and son well. For instance, my son’s life on the spectrum has taught me so much. Many portraits of my son highlight his “hyper fixation” – the inclination he has to be totally absorbed and focused on an object. In a series of paintings those objects he is focused on may be insects, his animal toys, or bubbles. And I truly believe that as atrophied as our ability to focus is in our culture, my son’s hyper fixation can teach us how to have a healthier fixation. I know it has certainly encouraged me to slow down, be mindful, and behold as a person. And that has grown me as a painter.
What were you like growing up?
As a kid I shared common interests with my friends like sports and comic books. And those interests certainly informed my art. I was convinced my life calling was to become the next Jim Lee, the artist who at the time was illustrating the X-Men. And whether it was sitting down at night to draw superheroes and athletes, or sitting in class making cartoonish portraits of the teachers for my classmates’ amusement, I captured the human form and chased down likenesses again and again.
After school and college, I worked in ministry for nearly two decades. This involved building deep connections with people of diverse backgrounds. And it meant that I spent my life investing in and caring for a wide array of people on their individual journeys. It’s another reason I love highlighting the inherent dignity and value of each human life through portraiture.
But ultimately I’m inconvertably introverted, and after connecting and counseling and celebrating people during the day, quiet and creativity is what I need to recover later in the evening. I dream of one day making creative pursuits my career, but I know until then that all of the above have made me the person and artist that I am today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://justinwhiteart.com
- Instagram: @justinwhiteartist
