Ten years in the making:
TIM'S STORY NOW IN PRINT

Tim Collom’s color-rich canvases celebrate his love affair with the iconic beauty of California. His art has touched many of us in his hometown of Sacramento and beyond.
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On a journey that began as a hobbyist painter in recovery, Tim has become a widely collected and beloved artist, deeply involved in the community.

This 150-page hardbound retrospective captures the first ten years of Tim’s career. It is filled with rich, beautiful images, and tells his unlikely and inspiring story.
Tim Collom
California Painter: A Retrospective
​Writing and design by Justin Panson.
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About This Project
Tim has been a friend and a client of mine for over 20 years. So when he brought up the idea of creating a milestone publication for his art career, we both realized I was the right guy for the job. I am both a writer and designer. I was an early fan of his art, and I have been there with him all along the way.

While the typical art book can be an austere, academic affair, I decided to take an opposite approach. Tim is a big-hearted guy who lives his life out in the community and posts himself unapologetically on social media. So those social media posts ended up being a really great way to help tell the story. We included many posts right in the book. And that's not something I have seen in an art book before.

As with writing biographical material for anyone, it was tricky to capture the guy, while being sensitive to the nuances of his art, and wanting to faithfully tell his interesting and complicated story.

On a technical level, there were challenges to finding and shooting high resolution digital images of his paintings to ensure they would reproduce well in print. I have managed commercial printing projects for 20+ years, but a 150-page case bound book is a unique thing in the print world, requiring a high degree of precision.

I am really proud of my friend, and of this book that we collaborated on!
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