From the time Jason Abbott was very young he loved to draw. He would grab any piece of paper and pencil he could find to draw what he was thinking. One time he even tried drawing a picture on the side of a house. Jason remembers "When I was six my older brother talked me into painting my neighbors house with a magic marker. Nobody told me you couldn't paint an entire house with a magic marker, or that you could go to jail for trying, but I was six. I took to the task with diligence. When my folks caught me they didn't see artistic merit or a budding artist, they saw a vandal and worried I might end up in jail someday."

  As Jason got older he still would draw but not always have the dream of becoming a full-time artist. Jason spent ten years working for the National Security Agency, the Office of Naval Intelligence and finally contracted to the US Coast Guard as a Systems Analyst. In May 2002 he found himself out of a job with a family to support. He looked for work everyday and decided to make use of his time and paint. He started out with pastels and within a few months switched to oils. Jason recalls, "I was under tremendous strain. We only had a few months left of our 401k I had pulled out, I had to find a job or produce some art that would sell." He wanted to stay in the Hampton Roads area but could not find a System Analyst job that would pay what he had been earning. In March 2003 he was down to his last $138. Jason say's " I approached MacArthur Center here in Norfolk, VA to see if they would allow me to paint in their mall. I was broke but managed to scrape $400 together to rent a small space next to a seating area. I was terrified. I did not sell a single thing that first week, or the next. But as I painted, I noticed people seemed to like what I was painting. They weren't buying anything but they weren't throwing tomatoes either. Those next two weeks were the turning point; I sold nearly $3,000 worth of my originals in eight days. I was just beginning and getting better everyday. I loved it the public was paying me to learn how to paint. I had no idea what was coming but in the next nine months I sold $65,000 worth of my oils. I would later learn that put me in the top 1% of all earning artists in North America."

  Now Impressionist Artist Jason Abbott paints daily at MacArthur Center in Norfolk, VA. In the past four years he has sold nearly 1,000 original oil paintings.

  "I never dreamed I would not have to go back to a 9 to 5 job. I was just trying to make the most of my time and to my amazement we are earning a living from my art sales. People sometimes ask me, "What are you doing in the mall?" as if I should be somewhere else. I say, "The mall is a perfect place for me to be." 95% of Americans have never set foot in an art gallery and, aside from Bob Ross painting on PBS; they've never seen an oil painting made. It is an awesome privilege to have access to 10 million people. That's the number of people who come through the doors of the MacArthur Center each year. I see no reason to go anywhere else."

See Jasons original works at the 3rd Annual Chicks Beach Art Show on September 6th begining at 10:00am and lasting until 4:00pm.
The art show will be behind HK on The Bay with a fresh bay breeze. Rain Date is September 13th.

Visit Jasons website http://jason-abbott.com