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Biography of Jim Hefley

For many years Jim has been an active outdoors-

man. When he relocated to Western NC he combined 

his love of the many beautiful streams of our area, where

he fly fishes for trout and bass, with a passion for oil

painting. Many of his paintings feature a beautiful

mountain trout stream with a fly fisherman actively

pursuing (and sometimes catching) a nice trout. He

currently has two series of these type of oils. The

Blue Ridge Fly Fishing Series features Western NC

streams primarily within our National Forests or NC

State Forests. The Smoky Mountains Fly Fishing

Series features streams within the Great Smoky

Mountains National Park . He also has done landscapes

showcasing our beautiful mountain vistas as well as

some of our spectacular waterfalls.

Jim lived and worked in Europe for a number of years.

During that time he developed a real appreciation for

the countryside fields and houses in those countries.

Because of that interest, he has created a number of

landscapes of scenes in England , France , and Italy ,

including some very colorful scenes of barges on

canals in England and France .

In terms of style, Jim generally paints in a contemporary

realism style, but also likes to create some paintings

in a more impressionistic style if the scene and the light

encourage that approach.

Jim has studied with and taken oil painting workshops

from prominent Western NC artists John Mac Kah,

Peggy Taylor and Julyan Davis.

In addition to painting Jim is an active member of

Trout Unlimited, and devotes volunteer time to helping

stock trout in the WNC streams and participates in TU

efforts to clean up the streams.