(Describer) A young man hops off a unicycle.

We are in Indy to meet an amazing artist, not just artist, but also art educator and lawyer. His story and art will amaze you. Let's meet him.

(Describer) In a studio..

My name is Justin Vining. I'm a full-time artist at the Harrison Center for the Arts in Indianapolis, Indiana.

(Describer) He paints with light grey and white on a dark grey background, creating a house. It’s on a table he stands over.

I grew up on a farm. I knew that I was going to be a farmer or something else. Going through high school, I decided not to become a farmer. I was thinking about cool jobs and thought, "I want to teach art. That's cool." My three years as an elementary school art teacher, you see evidence of my former students' influence in my work. I was at that three-year point in teaching, and I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. My little brother called me and said, "I'm gonna go to law school." I was like, "I'm gonna do this too." During my first semester, I needed a break. I picked up a brush and I painted seven-ish paintings that were stronger than anything I'd done before. I sold them pretty quick. Suddenly, it got the ball rolling. So I did it again. By the time I graduated law school, I had sold hundreds of pieces all over the country. I felt like if I wanted to realize this career, every second that I let pass was time wasted and the harder it would become to make it a reality. Are you sketching these out and thinking about those or is it a craft that you enjoy? Both. Some of them I do start with very quick sketches to make sure I have a strong composition. I use those building blocks to build some compositions. Not all, but some.

(Describer) Some paintings are of farmland, with bold colors and lines like cartoons.

A lot of times I'll start there and then the rest is kind of freestyling. As a young artist living off my work, I schedule a very aggressive show schedule. And with that comes an extreme work ethic. I'm in the studio pretty much every single day. The artist next door is a big Ping-Pong player, so we turn my studio desk into a Ping-Pong table and play a best of five and finish my cup of coffee. Then around 10 AM-ish, I pull out paints and work till about three and four PM. Then go home, walk the dogs, and have a normal evening

(Describer) His studio day is shown in fast-motion.

like everyone else. In show season, completely different. I put in a solid 12 hour-ish time, really focused and then do it all again. Some days are longer than that. Going to law school, I was surrounded by... more entrepreneurial, business-minded people that helped me see not just creating beautiful art, but how to market it then build a business around it. There is a balance to be struck between creating marketable, sellable art and personal exploration-- creating for the sake of creating and putting marketability aside.

(Describer) With the host...

Tell me about these beautiful charcoal pictures and how you got motivated to make them.

(Vining) I just moved into a new neighborhood a few blocks away from my art studio. I oftentimes walk or ride my bike here usually early in the morning or the evening when the light is exceptional.

(Describer) Outside, he sketches.

As an artist and a visual person being drawn in by these new surroundings, I wanted to capture that. These are different for me. I've tried to capture accurate proportions. I generally don't try to do that.

(host) They're very realistic for what you do.

(Describer) The works are groups of houses in shades of grey.

I--I--I might, when I turn them into paintings, maybe skew the perspective and exaggerate it a bit. I may not. I haven't entirely decided how far I'm gonna push it, but for now, I just felt compelled to completely change it up, tighten everything up, do more accurate perspective and be really inspired by the beautiful surroundings of this new neighborhood. Looking back at my experience in middle and high school, I never would have considered myself the best artist in class. I think that's why I was drawn to art education because you could be passionate, but you didn't necessarily have to have an extreme skill level to be successful. You had to love it. Through years of hard work and pushing myself to improve, I've been able to maybe go past that and, I think, creating successful work now.

(Describer) Title: Let’s create. The host stands at a table with blank paper.

I love how Justin is redefining what an abstract landscape looks like, and his use of vibrant colors contrasting with the black and white. I'm going to try this idea, working from my imagination. Let's see what we'll need. First thing is watercolor paper. It's about 105 pound paper, which is thick. Next, we need watercolor paints or a watercolor tray. Whichever is fine. Third, brushes, water, and paper towels. Fourth, a permanent black marker with a pretty fine tip. Last, our idea printed out and a pencil for lightly sketching. Let's get started.

(Describer) He starts lightly sketching curves with a pencil.

As you're sketching, don't forget to push lightly. You might want to erase this or make sure the pencil doesn't show through the watercolor paint.

(Describer) After drawing a curved vine curled at the end and a tree on top, he sketches straight lines. He’s shown sketching in fast-motion.

(Describer) Later, he squeezes small globs of paint from tubes into a tray.

It seems like I'm not using much paint, but this paint is very concentrated, so a little bit goes a long way.

(Describer) He slowly fills a space along the top edge with blue, staying within the sketched lines.

One technique I'm using is wet on wet. You take a brush and paint water and then paint watercolor paint on top of it.

(Describer) He paints another section green. Viewed from above in fast-motion, he fills in two thick vines with the ends curling toward each other.

(Describer) Viewed from table-level, he fills in another section.

(Describer) He wipes his brush.

You have to remember, with watercolor painting, the paper absorbs some color as it dries. Go pretty bold, but make sure it stays transparent. That's key.

(Describer) He fills curly tree leaves with gold, then carefully goes over the sketched lines with the black marker.

I'm using this marker very slowly and I'm concentrating on using the only the tip. That way I make a clean thin line.

(Describer) He draws detail on buildings, including the Eiffel Tower, which is filled in with a blue-grey and curved like other elements.

I'm gonna stop for now, but you see how difficult it is skewing the perspective and how difficult it is using a fine tip marker. I have great respect for what Justin creates. It's fun. Let's see what you create. Remember, be creative, innovative, and outrageous.