My name is Don James and I was born in Preston, Victoria in 1943.

I have been drawing and painting for most of my life but I have been a professional painter for the last 30 years. I was inspired to make painting my life’s work when I visited the National Gallery School in Melbourne in 1962. The experience of the light and the smell of the studios has never left me.

My oil painting instruction commenced in 1972 under Ms Shirley Bourne O.A.M. at the Victorian Artists’ Society and continued with her for 9 years. I then took lessons with Alan Martin, ultimately teaching in his studio after his death in 1988. Shirley Bourne was Sir William Dargie’s studio assistant for many years and Alan Martin was a long time student of Max Meldrum. Both of these teachers inspired me to paint in a tonal realist manner and I now hold classes in this discipline at Montsalvat Artists Colony in Eltham Victoria. I wrote a book ‘On Painting’ for students in 2007 setting out what my teachers had taught me.

I have been a member of the Victorian Artists Society since the early 1970’s.

Now a Fellow of the society I have also served as a councillor. It is difficult to pick a favourite painting subject but if made to choose it would probably be seascapes closely followed by portraiture. I also paint flowers and still life and all of my work is done from life as my main enjoyment in painting comes from my relationship with the subject

A favourite painting spot for me was along the Yarra River near its conjunction with the Maribyrnong. These days that area has changed and doesn’t have the appeal to me that it used to. The beach at Inverloch is a current favourite as is the Flinders Ranges in South Australia

I have many favourite artists. They include Rembrandt, John Singer Sargent, Eduoard Manet, Sir William Dargie and Giorgio Morandi.

I consider one of my best paintings to be my portrait of Xuan.

Apart from the fact that it turned out well it was a pleasure to talk with her during the sittings as she told me a little of her life in Vietnam and her time as a refugee coming to Australia. I think that it is important to talk with your sitter as their face becomes animated. My theory is that a portrait, painted over several weeks becomes a ‘collage of ocular facts’ and more like a film than a photograph.

Painting has been my life for a long time and I hope that it remains so for many more years.

Don James
23rd September 2013.