Chelsea James

Chelsea James paints with abandon and subtlety, which is a nice trick. Her imagery is nothing new, landscapes, interiors, still lifes and figure studies, but her technique is simply wonderful. She instinctively avoids literal realism. Instead she allows the process of painting to reinterpret what she sees. A scrape here, a dab of color there, part of a line from the early drawing that was never completely covered in paint, all these apparent accidents accumulate in layers, and she collects them using her subject matter as an organizational guide.
She's still a young artist (although she does not paint like one) and will no doubt explore a lot of visual ideas and approaches in the coming decades. But her drawing and compositional skills, her knack for subtle value shifts and her instincts for painting as process should ensure a very successful career (that by all appearances is already well under way).
See loads more work at her website: chelseajames.com























“Snowy Hill” 12" x 12" oil on masonite

















“rain cluster” 36" x 48" oil on canvas























“Piso 7” 12" x 12" oil on masonite























“Magdaline” 24" x 24" Oil on Canvas

thanks again to Eric over at paintblog.ca for introducing me to her work.