Paul Noble James
View Paul Noble James Oil Paintings On Display At Eclectic

New England
Paul Noble James is a man of few words. At 72 Paul finds that he expresses himself best through his watercolor and oil paintings. He paints everyday on mountain trails and on the seashore of his beloved New England. A typical day starts early when he sets off for the mountains with his portable easel, stretched canvas and 25 lbs. of gear loaded into in his backpack.

Mr. James is a New England landscapes painter who paints what he sees and what he feels about nature. “The camera lens documents nature I interpret it through my eyes and through my artwork. It starts with the discovery of new places, new sounds, new colors and shapes.” But, Paul doesn’t put brush to canvas until he sketches the scene in pencil and makes the necessary color and texture notes. Sometimes he even creates miniature color studies of a scene before the painting process begins.

Paul uses only French and Belgian linen canvas that he stretches before he goes into the field. “The subject dictates the size and aspect ratio of the canvas. You can’t force a subject into a format, nature makes that decision.” Mr. James works in sizes as small as 8” x 10” up through 30” x 40” canvases.

When Paul is ready to paint, he paints “alla prima” (all at once) by first laying a monochromatic wash onto the canvas. “I prefer to lay color directly onto the raw canvas and build thin layers of paint until I achieve the desired effect.” Paul prefers to start with bristle brushes #10, #12, and #14 flats to cover large areas. He uses progressively smaller brushes as he adds more detail. Paints are thinned on a wood palette with a mixture of stand oil (sundried linseed oil) and turpentine that is blended to his exacting specifications.

Paul was influenced at an early age by his grandfather, landscape and marine painter W. Harry Smith and later in life by his friend and mentor, the Cohasset, Mass painter, Maclvor Reddie.

One day, one work of art and another impression of a New England landscape through the eyes of Paul Noble James.

Paul wasn’t always a man of few words, in fact, most of his working life was spent working as a scientific writer and editor of oceanographic and geophysics technical papers and publications. He retired early to pursue his love of painting and nature. Paul and his wife Anne live comfortably in their New England home by the shore close to their seven adult children, twelve grandchildren and great granddaughter. Plein air painting is the expression of Paul Noble James love for the outdoors and painting New England landscapes is his first love. “The more I am in nature the more I learn about nature. I’ll never stop learning.”

The Eclectic Art & Objects Gallery is hosting a solo exhibition of Paul's recent paintings of New England mountains, farms and covered bridges through April 2001.