24 Watercolor artist | AUGUST 2019

FAIR-WEATHER CHASER JAMES BARTHOLOMEW DEFTLY

COMBINES WATERCOLOR AND PASTEL TO CONVEY STRONG

LIGHT, COLOR AND ENERGY IN HIS PAINTINGS.

By Rebecca Dvorak

A

successful painting for Lancashire, England, artist James

Bartholomew is replete with dynamic energy and strong colors.

A lifelong lover of nature and animals, he says his work is inspired

by “the interplay between a subject and light, and how changing weather

can alter the essence of something so completely.” He spends months

waiting for the right weather conditions; when a bright day with strong

light and dramatic colors arrives, he seizes the opportunity.

Within a Landscape

“To fi nd good seascape and landscape subjects, I’ll get myself to an interest-

ing location—when the weather and light are favorable—and just spend

time exploring,” Bartholomew says. While on-site, he’ll use his camera to

experiment with perspective and angles by framing compositions and

creating a series of thumbnails to help him with color contrasting. “Having

dozens of photos from varying angles and in changing light is a great

resource on which to base paintings,” he says. “By the time I leave the site,

I’ve generally spent several hours observing and absorbing the subject.

Th is is, to me, the important part of the plein air experience. Good subjects

usually will follow and, because there are so many variables, the same locale

can produce very diff erent paintings at diff erent times.”

Back in his studio, reference material in hand, the artist works with a

frenzied zeal to capture the natural movement and uplifting feeling of the

captivating scene. “I don’t view my paintings as narratives,” Bartholomew

Mirror Dinghies, No. 1, Abersoch

(watercolor on paper, 18½ x13)

A Moment

in Time