About the Artist
James Hough has combined a deep passion for Australian wildlife and the environment with another of his life long interests, Fine Art. Bird life is of particular interest to James, and it has been a natural progression to combine his knowledge of birds and their environment with his art skills. His artwork reflects the deep respect he has for the natural environment and a desire to educate all to reverse its alarming destruction.
Born in the Australian sea side city of Newcastle, New South Wales, James grew up admiring native birds on the family property at Wingham on the banks of the Manning River. He now lives in Singleton New South Wales with his wife and two sons and continues to visit the family property that has given him so much inspiration. James has never undertaken any formal art studies or training and takes pride in the fact that he is completely self taught.
Each of his subjects is thoroughly researched, aided by all his own resource material from sketches to photography. The final composition may be components of many sketches and photographic images collected on walks and visits to many of Australia’s National Parks and bushland reserves. A considerable amount of thought and research is combined to ensure that each work is as accurate and pleasing to the eye as it can be. Each new work is begun by collecting as much resource material from his own photographic records and sketches and confirming the particular bird’s habitat in various written publications. He more often than not visits the bird’s habitat to get a feel for its environment and so incorporate some of the landscape of its surrounds in the final image. He returns to his studio with collections of branches, lichens, leaves, blossom, and gum nuts.
The beginning of a new work is generally an idea or a recollection of a fleeting glimpse of a particular bird in the wild. "To be able to capture this moment in the birds life and to share the image with others is very rewarding. I love being able to play with light, to highlight a subjects gesture, or to recreate the atmosphere of the wild environment. I have been asked , why do you go to all the trouble to paint a bird like that when you could easily hang one of your photos?. My answer , the original work of an artist depicts far more than a photo can ever portray. A part of the artists impression is captured in the subject , the mood, the light, a story, or the essence of a native bird” can all be manipulated to satisfy the artists will”. All his work is achieved using acrylic where layers of transparent color are used to build tonal effects.
James paints on Claybord. The process begins with a sketch where composition and balance are critical to the final work. Color visualization and composition comes next. The background is painted first and is critical to the development of atmosphere and for capturing habitat likeness. The detailed highlighting of a work comes next. Shadows and highlights are applied, detailed cracks in old timber are given depth, the intricate formation of bird feathers, the rounding of branches, and a general overview of the final composition is given and adjusted by adding a few dead leaves, and cobwebs.
“By the time the work is complete I will already have many ideas for the next work and will quite often begin work on a new piece before I finish. For me to have a few completed but unframed works in my studio at once is rare but is a good idea as periodic reviews of your work will find minor errors and alterations that you can make".
James exhibits in numerous exhibitions throughout Australia during the year. He is a member of the Wildlife Art Society of Australasia and has been selected for display each year at their annual exhibition. His work is also on display at one of Australia’s leading galleries the Morpeth Gallery in the Hunter valley, New South Wales. Other galleries to display his work are: Pages Fine Art gallery Montville Queensland, Aarwun Gallery Gold Creek Canberra ACT, and the Ewbank Gallery Singleton NSW.
As well as exhibiting successfully in galleries throughout Australia his work has been published in a number of magazine articles such as The Australian Artist magazine, and is well represented in many private collections in Australia and around the world.
“There is nothing more rewarding than to finish a work and to be able say that it captures that moment in time that was unique in the natural world and that onlookers will observe for the feeling or emotion of the work rather than its correctness. Finding a passion in your life as I have done with wildlife art and pursuing it creates a great deal of confidence in ones ability and a great sense of fulfillment. I have a great desire to contribute to the long-term preservation of our unique Australian native environment and I desire that my artwork will encourage and motivate all to this end. Being an artist is very important to me. It has opened my eyes to the splendid color and moods of this great country, the unique flora and fauna, and to the overwhelming responsibility we have to preserve what little is left.”