Meet Jimmy
Jimmy is a wonderful painter who has offered to make a limited edition of Seth's Dolphin's Prints and will give a portion of the proceeds to The Hugs Foundation (for near drowning Children) There are only 500 of these prints available! They come in 3 sizes and price range... Please see Jimmy's website for more information! Help Jimmy help our children!
Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff
Man shares 'God-given talent' with custom murals By Jim Woodard, Storyjim@aol.com November 19, 2006
Jim Katranis has loved to draw pictures since he was a boy. People would often look at his art and compliment him on his creative ability. "I was never really sure whether this was a God-given talent or a curse," he said. "But I sure enjoyed creating these images, and I still do today." Katranis, a Simi Valley resident, turned his love of creating art into a successful business. For nearly 15 years he worked for Warner Bros. Studio painting billboards on studio walls and backdrops for blockbuster movies. "Anyone who has ever gone to a movie or watched television has probably seen Jimmy's work," said his wife, Becky. "They just didn't realize they were looking at my husband's art. Millions of people have seen it." Katranis' art is featured in "Charlie's Angels," "The Green Mile," "Batman," "Speed," "The Cat in the Hat" and others. Three years ago, he decided to launch his own independent business, JK Painter Guy. The key motivation for the move was to have a more flexible working schedule and to spend more time with his family, including seven children — four boys and three girls, the youngest being twin 5-year-old boys, Jamie and Jimmy. Katranis now works from a well-equipped studio in his garage in Simi Valley. He primarily creates custom murals for homes and offices. His creations are widely varied, from crazy cartoons and air-brushed clouds blowing across a pale blue sky to fireplace finishes and fine art Italian vistas. Every piece of art is personalized to the tastes and desires of his client. In some cases, his murals include images of the client's family members, pets or favorite stories and books. He often goes to his clients' homes or offices to paint murals. At other times, he completes his artistic work on cloth in his studio, then installs it at the client's property. The advantage of painting on cloth is that the client can take it with him when moving to a new home or office location, he pointed out. A current project is to complete a very special mural for Seth Paschal, a 5-year-old boy with serious medical problems following a near-drowning accident. Seth's mother told Katranis her boy loved the ocean and things under the surface. His mural is an underwater scene. The plan is to create and sell limited print editions of the mural and donate half of the income to a foundation set up for Seth. Katranis, 43, has completed 30 murals so far this year. They varied in size, complexity and cost. The fee for a mural like the one being created for Seth would be about $2,500. He now works alone on each project, but plans to hire helpers in the future as the volume of commissioned jobs increase. For more information, phone 805-368-9344. * * *