After completing a degree in Fine Art (Sculpture), James spent some years designing and making metal furniture and products as well as undertaking various private commissions from architectural ironwork through to product design and sculpture. He taught himself the rudiments of Blacksmithing along the way but by late 2004 James decided to return to his roots in sculpture and painting. He set up a workshop based in Highland Perthshire and also paints from a studio on the Isle of Skye.
"My paintings attempt to evoke an immediacy - a pencil sketch is succeeded by washes of quick drying acrylic paint, allowing me to build up translucent areas of colour. Often the pencil outline of the painting is allowed to show through, creating an almost graphic account of the subject. I try to limit my palette to only a few colours - this helps reinforce the simplicity of form, in turn creating a balanced and rhythmic composition.
The influences within my work draw mostly upon Expressionism, Folk and British Naïve Art from the early and mid-20th century".
