The finished painting below is of Ferryside which I previously posted as a work in process.
It was the first dwelling belonging to Daphne du Maurier where she wrote her first book The Loving Spirit, published in 1931. The du Maurier’s acquired the former boat yard in 1926.
According to the BBC:
“The building was constructed of local granite in the early 1800s, serving as a shipwright’s workshop, yard and quay, and is an important survivor of Cornwall’s maritime heritage, Historic England said.
After it was bought by the du Mauriers, the original quay was turned into a domestic garden, the sail loft became bedrooms and a bathroom, and the former boat store was changed into the family sitting room.
The Grade II listed status reflects the home’s connection to du Maurier and its wider architectural and historical significance.”
One of the great things about Cornwall is that it has a never ending supply of inspiration. Everywhere I look there is something to paint. My latest piece of The Blue Peter Inn in Polperro. Less is known about it’s origins, but it has been mentioned in records from the 18th and 19th century.
If you want to know more about the inns of Polperro head on over to the Polperro Press website
As we are now out of the next stage of lockdown in England, I have decided to go into my local city centre to take some photos of as many interesting and quirky places as I can find. Also, see if there are any pubs or cafes I have missed.
Here is one I have done recently if you haven’t seen it on my Instagram or Facebook. I hope I can find some as interesting and colourful.
I thought I would have a look and see how one of my pics looked in a frame. I think it looks pretty good. I might start selling the prints with frames as well.
So here you go, welcome to my town and welcome to Britain’s Ocean City. If you want a print without frame go on over to my Etsy shop or to my Facebook shop.
When I was younger, I was the biggest Elvis Presley fan you would ever meet. I used to spend ages trying to perfect my quiff and my shaky leg and curled lip. What I always wanted to do, was be able to play guitar and sing. The singing bit was ok. I participated in many sing songs and even sang in a couple of groups, but I never had the patience and head to learn the guitar.
Me with guitar.
At the beginning of last year I decided to learn the ukulele, which lead to the guitar. I have progressed a bit, more on the uke, but I was so pleased that I was able to play an actual Elvis song. I’m not so good at either any more (singing/playing). Here it is for your entertainment.
So, I couldn’t make up my mind what to post about today, so I decided to share both with you. I made both of them anyway. The first is my latest drawing/painting, which is of an old ice-cream van which used to frequent the Barbican in Plymouth. I managed to get the pigment screaming in the colours, so that it almost feels 3D. What do you think?
And the second is some photos of a few flowers in my garden. Also very pigmented. I am so pleased with them, because I decided to start doing a bit of gardening and trying to add more colour to our garden. I was so worried about all the flowers dying off after I had re-potted them, because I have never done this before, or I have but they all just died off. Here they are looking glorious after more than a week. 🙂
Jamaica Inn is situated on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. It is said to be renowned in the past with its affiliations with smugglers. It originally began as a coach house or a stop by for tired travellers. I tried to capture a moody sky and dramatic atmosphere as depicted in the book by Daphne du Maurier and film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
What a great day it was yesterday! We had glorious sunshine and went out for the first time in a very long time for pleasure rather than to do something necessary. You’ll be surprised how such a little trip restores the soul. So my advice is go out, even if for a short trip.
I also managed to finish my next piece which is of my city from the sea. I always think Plymouth has 2 sides. There is the dismal architecture of the city centre which was mostly rebuilt post-war due to it being flattened. At the time of being built I am sure it looked amazing, but with time it has become very grey and a little brutal looking.
The other side is the Barbican and the Hoe, which has a lot more character, with more historic buildings and beautiful views over the inner harbour and Plymouth sound.
I actually live in the maritime city of England. Plymouth is famous for its maritime history and in normal times it can be a great place to live. That’s why here and in the surrounding area there is plenty to draw.
The below piece is of an inn close by to Plymouth in a sweet seaside village called Kingsands.
Although my Etsy shop says ‘member since 2014’I have only actually been using it since 2020. After years of trying to earn a bit to fund my next art project I decided to sell on Etsy, only prints of my originals though.
Since last October I have made 65 sales, mostly for postcard size prints. I have lost a lot more than I have made with all of the overheads. I lose a small chunk on Etsy fees and I also paid for the plus membership for a few months, which I would say is pointless. There really isn’t a big difference. I am satisfied with Etsy but it could be better.
Last week I thought I would give Folksy a go as I kept seeing the name pop up and it is more UK focused, which is better for me, because to post abroad is really expensive now.
I have stuck with the same shop name, because I am hoping that way, one of my shops will receive hits. One advantage with Folksy is that you can have your listings imported from Etsy, which makes it a whole lot easier when updating your Folksy website. I cancelled the ‘plus’ package on Etsy and instead pay £5 a month on Folksy. Which includes unlimited listings. Anyway, no sales yet, but I will update in a month or two on the progress.
When you look around if you visit England, you can’t help but notice of the red phone boxes (which are not so common anymore), red post boxes which are everywhere, in the walls, on the street and so on.
If I could play my guitar a little better and sing as I use to, I would. Especially in this beautiful courtyard in the pretty little town of Locorotondo, Puglia in Italy.
I hope I can go back to Italy and visit all these wonderful places again before I die. (Bucket List Alert).
I hope you enjoy my latest addition to my Etsy shop.
This time last year I really wanted to do something different and i have previously showcased some of my attempts at different things. I really enjoyed having a bash at animation. It’s more complicated than you imagine, coming up with characters and then putting them to a story.
Anyway, below you can see some of my practice runs
While I was trying different things out last year, I also had a go at Manga and cartoons. My mum and I have this gorgeous black and white cat called Dotty. She is a bit mental and likes to clean herself so much that she will lick her fur off.
We’ve tried all kinds of remedies but came to face it that she’s just nuts. She also does things different to other cats. She isn’t scared of a JCB going through the living room, but she’ll hide if the pressure cooker beeps.
You should see how she reacted when we bought her cat grass.
She likes to play with flies.
She prefers luxury armchairs to her scratch post….
When I was trying new things out just before the beginning of lockdown in 2020, I found a passion I had was for Chinese and Japanese traditional art and calligraphy. So I bought all of the so-called ‘four treasures’ for attempting some of it myself.
As the sakura should be blossoming around about now in Japan, I thought I would post a couple of my attempts and also of the Chinese art I attempted.
Done with inks and calligraphy brushes on rice paper.
Japanese woman James PresleyTanka James PresleyChinese Scholars James PresleyOh oh oh My little China girl James Presley
I have just made a sale which is going all the way to Japan. Apart from it costing the same to send it there as the print itself, I am so happy that they like my art there. Most of the material and paint I use is made in Japan so it’s basically going home.
Why a chippy, I don’t know. Perhaps because it’s red, perhaps because it’s British or maybe just a reminder of a trip here whatever the reason thank you. 1st sale in Japan.
After much backbreaking bending over my work table, I have finished my depiction of Falmouth harbour. Situated on the South coast of Cornwall, with a fantastic university, this is definitely the place to study for every student.
I am progressing, and here is day 3 of my latest. I think I shall probably finish the picture today and post the finished piece on here tomorrow. I was doing this till 1 AM and still wanted to continue. Once I get stuck in I just can’t seem to put my brushes and pens down.
Falmouth Harbour. Day 3 WIP James Presley
I taken some pics of the different things I am using to create with.
Kuretake Japanese water coloursKarin brushmarker PRO
You can see other finished limited-edition prints here
I posted the latest creation in progress yesterday all freehand fine liner. (No rulers) Now I have started to colour her. It took me about 4 – 5 hours to do the colour that you see, done with watercolour and Karin brushmarkers.
Limited edition Prints available of this pen and ink drawing, on archival art paper.
This delightful fudge pantry and ice-cream parlour used to be located in Tintagel, Cornwall where the painting was made, but having checked their website, it seems they have relocated to Wadebridge in Cornwall. If you get chance, visit it, it’s the best fudge you have ever tasted. If you can’t go, there now you can always order online. I will.
I used Winsor Newton watercolour and brush marker pens as well as and highly pigmented Karin pens to complete this piece.
I am thinking about doing some videos of myself creating to put on my shop on Etsy, but I don’t know if it is a good idea. I have a GoPro type thing, so the equipment is ok. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with doing this kind of thing and can give me any advice? Would be appreciated. Etsy recommends videoing the process of creating, so I thought I might try it.
Another good thing I discovered as a result of the lockdown is you can see the entire collection of Le Louvre online for free. Quite cool. What other positive things come out of lockdown. I learn the guitar and ukulele and create something every day. What about you?
I grew up in Cornwall, or for the early part of my life, definitely want to return to live there one day, but for now visiting the beautiful seaside places and fishing villages and putting down their beauty on paper will have to do,
I moved abroad in 1993 and didn’t come home for good until 2017 and a lot had changed in England since then. At first, was very excited to get back to my home town of Plymouth and to be next to the sea. I had forgotten about all of the rain though. It’s a wonderful city if it isn’t raining.
I decided that I would draw or paint some of the places that I remembered from before I left and saw there are quite few amazing buildings left. Some of them I had to renovate myself a little bit.
The building has been derelict now for years and therefore I decided to bring it back to life, to include the scenes from the Spanish Armada. I do wish the concil would concentrate on bringing back to life some of our older buildings rather then erecting architectural monstrosities.
I remember when I was living in Budapest there was an old building similar to this and it was renovated and brought back to its former glory as a large book store in this former department store of the ‘art deco’ period. I could imagine the New Palace Theatre being something the same.
Párízsi Nagy ÁruhÁz, Budapest
Another gorgeous building in the ‘art deco’ style in Plymouth is the Reel Cinema, which was built in the 1930’s. Over the decades it has change hands many times but has mostly been a theatre or a cinema. Now they are talking about bringing it down to make way for student apartments. Seems all of the buildings erected in Plymouth now are student apartments or ugly empty shopping malls.
I mean, come on, this is the place which once saw The Beatles, and Sir Tom Jones perform. Unfortunately, the cinema closed it’s doors as a cinema for the final time in 2019, but I have heard that they may be converting it to a music venue. Come back Tom!
I’ll post some more pictures that I have done of my favourite places in Plymouth over the next few days. However if you can’t wait the go to JPS Fine Art Prints (my Etsy shop) to see and perhaps purchase some of my prints before they’re all gone. 🙂
So since I last posted on here in October 2020, my shop has been noticed but not doing fantastically. I have lots of likes and great reviews from customers, but it still isn’t going to pay for the cottage on the coast.
I am mainly creating scenes from villages and towns around where I live in England, Wales and places that I have visited or stayed at or even eaten at in the past on my journeys around the world. Like the one above. I have all of these available as limited-edition fine art prints, available in 3 sizes. The postcard size is 10 x 15 cm, and then there is A4 and A3 size. Price range from £6.55 up to £21.00. These are on high quality fine art paper and really do look great.
My favourite part of the process is creating the painting or drawing in the first place. It takes many hours to complete one picture and I have already disfigured my finger from holding the fine liners too tightly.
I start by inking the drawing with Copic fine liners, and also experimenting with other types. I love working with Japanese inks. For the colour part I use water colour, mainly Kuretake or Winsor and brush pens such as Spectrum Noir, Karin or Winsor Newton. I usually use all three in one picture.
My favourite subjects are chippies and cafes. There so many of them scattered around, and with the lockdown and everything, wouldn’t you just love to be going there now. During these times, I have been creating every single day, and what I have on my Etsy shop is a small portion of what I have done in 365 days.
So please, please, share this post with all of your friends, contacts, non-friends and whoever you want, to get people coming my way, just for visiting. If you want to do a print of your business front, send me a photo and I will do it.
Turquoise War Bonnet Acrylic on Canvas 102 x 76cm By James Presley
About This Work
Turquoise War Bonnet started as a different idea but developed into this finished product.It’s what I intended it to be in the end, based on the beautiful turquoise feathers warn by some native American Indian chiefs in the 19th century although only a few actually did.The painting is on all sides so can be hanged on the wall as it is or framed.Hope you enjoy it.
Chanoyu is a type of Japanese tea ceremony which is what this painting represents in my eye.Maybe something completely different in yours.It is incredibly difficult to get the colours exact when taking the photo of the painting, so to help this is done with high quality acrylic paint in turquoise, perm red-violet light, metallic gold and black and white.I hope you enjoy.
So, since last posting I have created 2 more creations, but been really busy with other things to post them, but they’re here now for you to view and comment on.
The Shimmering Acrylic on canvas 90 x 90cm by James Presley
Thanks for taking a look and thanks to all who Like my works or posts, it’s much appreciated. Jimmy.
Orange Blossom Extravaganza at Night Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm by James Presley
This is the first time in a very long time that I have created a painting of such proportion and I can’t tell you how much I missed the ability to express my freedom, dancing on the canvas once again.
If I had more money and perhaps a studio, I would be painting like this more often. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed creating it. Welcome to my world.
Twisted Tango | Acrylic on canvas | 100 x 120 x 4cm | by James Presley
This painting depicts a gunslinging cowboy under the hot red sun orrrr it’s a nice collage of blues and reds and oranges, which combined make a composition to fill your hall or living room. What I see is the first. Hence its title Pistolero Blues. I really hope you enjoy it and it is suitable to hang straight away. All of the sides are painted so if you don’t want to no need to frame. By James Presley 2019
Difficult to see when looking at the photo, but this and my previous 2 or 3 paintings are all textured, done with acrylic on canvas. This allows you not only to look at the painting but to get up close and feel the painting and if you close your eyes and feel long enough you may even get to feel the rhythm of the artist’s heartbeat when I created it. It’s ready to hang, hope you enjoy it!
Rose Tinted Glasses 100x50x4cm acrylic on canvas By James Presley
Figurante is my first painting of 2019.I used, what I think are very beautiful warm colours to warm you up in the winter.I especially like the permanent alizarin crimson that I have mixed with orange and yellow hue to highlight the dark figurante in the center.As usual, it’s so difficult to get the colours to show up as they appear in real life.It’s on box canvas, so ready to hang.
Figurante – Acrylic on canvas – 50 x 100 x 4cm James Presley
Hippocampus was created using a few metallic colours, such a blue, gold and copper. It is painted on a box canvas and all sides are covered so would be suitable to hang straight on the wall or get framed. I would imagine that it may bring a bit of the ocean to your surroundings. Enjoy!
15.54 was ready to be added to my addition of many, many painting at 15.54 on 5th December 2018. In some countries that’s St. Nicholas day, or Mikulas. In England that’s just another day before Christmas. I like the fact that there is St. Nicholas Day. And I like celebrations leading up to Christmas. This painting has pine, Robins and twinkle twinkle little star. I hope you enjoy it.
I friend of mine gave me a nice surprise today and sent me a photo of a painting that I created about 15 years ago and I had completely forgotten about. It was only when he sent me the photo that I remembered the painting. He showed me that he had had it framed at it does look grand.
I can’t even remember what title I gace the painting, but I was very happy that he had kept it for all of these years. I think it may be one of only two paintings that I have done that I have ever seen in their new home with frame. I wish I could see more in their new homes, but I think I would have a job contacting everyone and everywhere they have gone.
So here is a new addition to my slightly smaller-sized paintings. This one is ‘Fish Gold’, because I see a Fish and there’s gold in it. I loved doing the gold bit and the purple/magenta, they are not normally colours I would work with so it was something a bit different.
Fish Gold, Acrylic on canvas, 56 x 51 x 4cm, By James Presley
Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t do the gold any justice, because it does really shine beautifully in the sunlight. Hope you like it.
This green painting is green because I wanted to paint green. 🙂 The mood from it feels like still water on a pond or lake or a river. That’s what I feel anyway. It took me a while to get the mood and texture I wanted to feel and the photo is so hard to capture the colours accurately, but I have done my best.
Although I have never been to Arizona, when I finished this painting what sprang to mind was the great rock formations in Monument Valley.That’s what I see anyway, you may see different.This bright, warm painting is ready to hang as it is on a deep-edged canvas, so you can hang it with or without a frame.Hope you enjoy it.
Arizona Sunset, Acrylic on canvas, 51 x 56 x 4cm By James Presley
Hi folks! Sorry, I haven’t been around for a while, but with several websites to maintain and work and my art and other things, I don’t always have time to blog these days. So, basically here is an update with one of my latest pieces.
I have also developed a great website for myself, take a look at here it if you feel like it. Have a great day!
Sorry, I have not been around for a while, just sorting out a few things in life. But here is another new painting I have just finished. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like to have a feature on my blog drop a line and we’ll sort something out.
Tour de Famille is my latest experiment in abstract art. I so love trying new and different colours than what I am used to working with. This painting is on box canvas so is ready to hang as it is or can be framed. Great for any modern home or office interior and also painted with passion and love. Enjoy!
I created this deep edge painting with the beautiful English summer nights in mind that we are having at the moment.The painting is 4cms deep and I have painted all around so it can be enjoyed all around, or you can get it framed.Summer Nights Rythm reminds me of a Tango dance on a summer’s night.Every bit of my soul went into it so I hope you feel it.
Sparkler is painted on a deep canvas and can be viewed from all sides as I have tried to make it infinite. I gave it this title because it reminds you of when you were a kid and you used to try to spell your name with a sparkler. I have tried to photograph it as best I can with my camera to get the truest possible colors as it is a very warm orange and red, so if you don’t have a fire in the winter this will hopefully warm you up.
I saw that I haven’t updated my blog for more than a year. So much has happened in that time. I spent the last year until April 27th looking after my lovely mum. Although I am 1 of 5 children, I did it completely alone. Luckily, for the last 2 weeks of my mum’s life, my cousin was here with me.
Since mum passed away I have been alone. Sometimes I feel like giving up and joining her, but the love I have for life stops me. I also have my beautiful Dotty.
Plenty more I would like to say, but I choose not to share it on a social platform. You all know what you have done, shame on you all. One of my siblings said that mum cared more for her cats, well I don’t bloody blame her, at least they didn’t treat her like shit. I hope she is happy in the place wherever she is, with her lovely cats.
Presley Expressionism Artblog 