Colorado Springs native honors dive bars, neon signs, nostalgia with art

When Jon Francis thinks of Colorado’s beauty, his mind doesn’t just go to the mountain views.

He thinks about the neon signs and brick storefronts around his hometown of Colorado Springs.

He’s not as inspired by natural landscapes. It’s those “urban landscapes” that inspire Francis.

“I love seeing aspens and Garden of the Gods,” he said. “But there’s more to Colorado than that.”

Francis has been interested in art for as long as he can remember, creating with clay as a child and getting into painting while at Palmer High School. He majored in studio art at Knox College in Illinois.

The pandemic closed her salon, so this Colorado Springs artist started new career

Then, he walked away from art.

“I ended up deciding, man, I don’t know what to do with art,” he said.

Instead, Francis started a career as an elementary school teacher in town. He also was starting a family.

“For a while there, I didn’t have time for anything outside of work and being a father and a husband,” Francis said.

The itch for art was always there in the background. Several years ago came a chance to get back into it. He started making wooden pieces for his wife’s salon. Then a friend commissioned a painting from Fancis, prompting him to paint again.

“It sparked something in me,” he said. “Like, wow, someone will pay me for some art.”

Commissions kept coming. And getting bigger.

His artwork, including pop art takes on local spots and signs, animals and pieces of candy, has since been shown at Kreuser Gallery and the Manitou Art Center. Some of his pieces hang permanently at Beast and Brews, too.

For him, deciding what places or sights to bring to life is all about memories.

“Being a Colorado native, I’m inspired by the things I grew up around in the Springs,” he said. “There are so many things that bring back memories. These places have a story and I have a story with them.”

He painted Benny’s, the dive bar where he and his wife had their first date.

“It was more about us than the place,” he says. There’s one of Stir, the coffee and cocktail bar that used to be a garage when Francis was a kid. There’s another of Johnny’s Navajo Hogan, where his brother got his first job, and of Peak Bowl, where he and his high school friends spent many days. “In the early ’90s, there wasn’t much to do around here,” Francis says. “So we would go bowling a lot.”

Recently, he can’t stop painting scenes from the Penny Arcade in Manitou Springs, where Francis hung out almost every week as a teenager and where he often takes his 10-year-old daughter for a day of fun.

During the pandemic, Francis renovated the family’s garage into a studio space where he makes his magic. But he’s still very much a “nighttime and weekend painter,” as Francis teaches fourth grade for Colorado Springs School District 11.

“It feels great to be doing art again,” he said. “It’s like this other half of me that wasn’t there.”

Colorado Springs residents, whether they’re new or natives, tend to have a strong connection with Francis’s paintings. Like a man who asked for a painting of Conway’s Red Top, a classic hamburger joint that closed in 2012. He used to go there with his dad, who recently died.

“Things are changing in Colorado. A lot of things aren’t here anymore,” Francis said. “This is a way to preserve them, preserve these memories and the stories.”

He has a routine for getting new ideas for painting. Every Sunday, Francis goes on a long run from his house and along the Sante Fe trail. He carries his cellphone with him to take photos of things that could turn into paintings. Usually, he’s not taking photos of nature.

“There are other things in Colorado Springs that can be beautiful than what people first think of,” he said. “A neon sign is just as beautiful to me as a tree.”