And we’re talking to you, Terrance Osborne. See, we wanna create masterpieces like Flavor of New Orleans or Uptown Bound. It’s just not fair that you can just wave your little brush and BAM, there’s the 2012 Jazz & Heritage Festival Poster with Trombone Shorty. Hmph…must be nice…

Now, Terrance knows we’re just playing with him (ok, half playing, half serious). Every time he puts out a new piece, we’re left with the same dumbstruck look…how in the world did he do it AGAIN? In all honesty, of course, we’re more than thrilled that he can keep doing it again and again. But, exactly how does he do it?

Terrance Osborne is a New Orleans boy, born and raised. And his art is just as New Orleans as he is. From a young child, Terrance recognized his passion for art. He said, “I realized I had a passion for art early on because my mom, oldest brother, as well as my stepfather did art as a hobby. I also had a couple of friends who were artists and we would draw all the time, so I knew I was interested in it. I was also co-captain of the gymnastics team and I thought I'd be a gymnast at one point, but art pushed to the forefront.”
 
He added, “My passion for it started around 5th grade, but I didn't realize that I was gonna be an artist until middle school. It's one of those things where if you give your attention to something long enough, it starts to manifest itself and eventually you stop chasing it and start creating it.”
 
And create is exactly what Terrance does. Not only are you mesmerized by the colors and shape of his works, but you can feel them. You can feel the New Orleans in and around his paintings. He said, “In terms of New Orleans and her relationship to my work, imagine yourself when you were a kid with a toy box full of all these wonderful toys and you would pick one up and play with it for hours. When I look at New Orleans, I see that toy box and it's so colorful and dynamic that I want to paint how it looks to me.”

He continued, “The process of creating a painting is so rewarding and satisfying. And it’s not just the painting that's the process. Even when I'm not painting, I'm in the creative process with the environment and people I'm associating with. It's almost like I'm gathering bits and pieces of what's soon to be a new piece, so that whole process is very enjoyable for me. I always look forward to collecting images and characters.”
 
“Growth is important to me. It's always this forward progress that motivates me. That's why green is my favorite color because it represents growth. If you look at my work, for instance Humble Abode, there’s this tree that's growing upward and twisting like a tornado. It's this upwards movement that I think of when I'm inspired. That feeling gets me in the creative zone.”

Terrance’s favorite piece (and one of ours too) is a painting entitled From Nothing. “I believe that everything comes from nothing, that nothing is everything. When you fully understand that, you see how beautiful life really is. What's great about the piece is that it's open to universal interpretation and what else do you want as an artist than to create something that everyone can take something from. I love the pieces that I can share.”
 
And how we all love when Terrance shares. To see a local artist so tied to and proud of his city and culture is a wonderful thing. “I love New Orleans people; we're so eccentric. We're such a creative city that even our houses are a reflection of our character and the colors we paint the houses are an extension of our creativity. You can't go anywhere else and hear, ‘Hey, Baby.’ How do you describe that to somebody who's not from here? I wanna try, I wanna paint that. I wanna paint ‘Hey, Baby.' That's what I want to capture in my art.”
 
For more information about Terrance Osborne or to purchase any of works, please visit his website.

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