2025 Cafe Art Gallery: Elemental

Thomas Monroe Skillern. Born October 28, 1953, in Sheffield, AL. My mother, Christine Skillern was an art teacher and artist her whole life, so that is where I was spoon fed art from the time I could pick up a pencil and look for something to draw on It didn’t matter if I had something to go by or just rely on my memory, I just drew and painted until I got tired or went to sleep. The same still goes for today. I got serious about commercial art and enrolled in the now defunct New Orleans Art Institute where I studied and practiced commercial and fine art which I quickly learned was profitable and could help the bills. My motto is if you don’t paint you won’t be likely to sell your artwork. If you don’t show your work to the public, it is an uphill battle to hit the big time in the art world. I had rather people admire and purchase my art than wonder what I look like. Anyhow I lived in Metairie from 1978 until storm Katrina forced me to Baton Rouge. During my time in Metairie, I belonged to the Metairie Art Guild and the New Orleans Art Assoc. where I won different ribbons in their contests. Now I’m living in Baton Rouge and showing my work locally. I work primarily in acrylics, which is a water medium (it thins with water) but have tried and still dabble in the other mediums. What do I paint? I tell people who ask me this “anything that isn’t moving” – people, animals, portraits, country scenes, streetcars, New Orleans and French Quarter scenes, trees, landscapes, waterscapes, or any combination of these subjects. So, after all these years I’m still painting away for fun and profit. Do accept commissions with a retainer fee. I also make most of the frames I put on my artwork.