Fingal is this artist's canvas

James English RHA, originally from Naul, was awarded the 2020 Fingal County Council Graphic Studio Award, recently taking residency at Graphic Studio Dublin.

James is renowned for still life and landscape paintings which respond to his interest in nature and ornithology, often capturing shadow patterns, abstract forms and reflections in water.

James is a member of The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and his work regularly features in the RHA annual exhibition as well as numerous galleries in Ireland.

As part of an ongoing commitment to professional artists, Fingal County Council offers a fine art print residency at Graphic Studio Dublin. This residency provides an emerging or established artist with the opportunity to make a fine art print with the master printer Robert Russell at Graphic Studio Dublin.

During his residency at Graphic Studio Dublin in October, James created a limited edition of prints, and the artist's proof will enter the Fingal County Council Municipal Art Collection.

James spoke to The Fingal Independent recently about winning the Graphic Studio Award, and how North County Dublin inspires much of his work:

'I'm originally from the Naul, I live here in Loughshinny now, but originally from the Naul in North County Dublin. I've been working as an artist forty-five years or thereabouts, working as a professional artist.

'I do some landscape and sill life paintings and I would probably be best known for that and recently I've been using the theme of water. It's something that I became interested in over the years, I've been doing that among other things. It's something that I had an interest in developing, developing that particular theme. In recent years I've been using that a lot and reflections of buildings, reflections of people and indeed swimmers in water and how the water can distort the image.'

On winning the Graphic Studio Award, James says: 'They put out an open call to all artists living in Fingal, which I qualified, and I applied. I was a little bit surprised to win, maybe, you do these things more in hope than expectations, but it's always a nice surprise to win.

'The award meant quite a bit to me because I got to work in the studio with the master printer, Robert Russell, and I had an interest in print making before but never followed it up because my work was mainly oil painting. I was coached through making a couple of prints which two of them go into the collection of Fingal County Council, and then the others will be my own, a limited edition of 15 of what I did for the two weeks. So it was a great experience which no doubt will enrich my own work as well.'

James says: 'I'm very honoured to be included in their collection because it's quite an important collection of work of major Irish artists around the country. What I gained from the residency was satisfaction with working with print, which I always wanted to do but never really got around to it, and knowing the process of making a print, which is actually quite difficult and time consuming. It certainly will enrich my own work and possible or more than likely I will go back and make more prints.'

James' work is represented in the public art collections of The Royal Hibernian Academy; Allied Irish Bank; The Office of Public Works; Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council; the National Library; and Leinster House, along with many private collections both in Ireland and abroad.

His work also features in Gormley's Fine Art in Dublin City Centre and in his own studio in Loughshinny.

Fingal, he says, has always been a strong feature in his work, from its variety of landscape to its wildlife and 'terrific coastline':

'My inspiration I suppose comes from my interest in various things, like landscape and wildlife and nature, and as I say, rivers, lakes, streams, water, that type of thing. Fingal would feature a fair bit, that and Spain. I go to Spain and the west of Ireland, and I would do a lot of things on that. But Fingal would feature quite a bit because you never stop because even when you go out for a stroll, you're looking and ideas are being filtered to your brain all the time. I'm a visual artist, so I'm stimulated by what's around me and visual excitement.

'Fingal, for somebody who lives there, we probably underrate it, it has a terrific coastline, a fantastic coastline, and it has a variety of landscape as well from the coastal areas right up to the hills in the northern area. There's always pieces of inspiration that will come to you from the simplest of things, marks on walls or whatever, the texture of paint broken on a door or something like that, that can stimulate you to make you want to paint a particular image.'

James is now a well-established and respected artist, but is it difficult for young artists starting out in the profession?

'Yes, is the simple answer to that, I'm probably lucky enough in that I've been around for a long time and I've had a good run, but since the economic crash from 2008 to 2012, sales for artists and younger artists took a nosedive. They haven't really recovered and then they were probably just starting to recover in the last year or so then COVID came along. So it's been a very difficult time for artists. Most artists around the country have made little or no money from art in the last year, because of COVID. The galleries have only opened a few weeks in the summer and then they're closed again with the different restrictions coming in, so it's been a very very difficult time for all kinds of creatives.'

Is there any merit in studying art, or is it simply down to raw talent?

James answers: 'I studied art many many years ago, I was a part-time student in the college of art. I think you can have a talent for it, but you can study it as well. You have to have the initial talent for it, if you don't have a leaning in that direction you won't be able to do it. But many people are able to develop a small talent and work on it, it's an awful lot of practice, an awful lot of time producing work that doesn't satisfy you or doesn't see the light of day. But you can work on it and build it.'

Working through lockdown has been particularly hard on artists. How did James find working through lockdown?

He says: 'Working through lockdown wasn't pleasant, I didn't like the first time at all, I was confined to the house, but having said that, I'm coping with it much better now since because the 5km rule isn't too bad. I can walk to Skerries and Rush just to get out of the house and get out of the area as well. So it hasn't been too bad, but the first time where it's such a close confinement, was difficult.'James, who has lived in Loughshinny the past 35 years, says there is now a thriving art world in Fingal, something which didn't exist when he started out as an artist. There were few of the artistic outlets there are now, and few supports:

He says'There was none in that time, there was very few groups but there are quite a few groups around now between Balbriggan right up into Malahide, and I'm sure there are some around Swords as well that are supportive, and would be supportive to artists who need to have other people with them while they paint, and it is great. That wasn't there forty years ago.

'In Fingal there are quite a number of artists who are contributing to the greater body of art. Again, that has grown over the years, but there are no some very reputable artists living around the place.'

James now plans to return to Graphic Studio Dublin to print his work for inclusion in Fingal County Council's Municpal Art Gallery, and to market the rest himself through exhibitions.

While lockdown has been a hindrance to many artists, he has emerged from residency with a body of work that will be preserved for years to come.