James Harvey Taylor

Artist Biography

Recognized by his unique style of richly applied paint, James interprets the landscape with a spontaneous brush always seeking to reveal the underlying essence of the subject. His focus is on the essential elements in landscape, selectively eliminating distracting minutiae. This spontaneous approach creates a heightened sense of urgency and vitality that enlivens sky, clouds, and other elements of the scene and generates a sense of energy and animation. James feels his paintings are successful when they exude energy and take on a discernable life force of their own. His watercolors are also painted with full bodied passages of vibrant color that fuse on dampened textured surface. James paints the broad landscape with structures, animals, and figures as secondary elements carefully woven into the predominating fabric of sky and landmass.

Always in search of inviting subject matter for his paintings, James has traveled widely over the past decade searching out scenes that spark his imagination and ignite the creative impulse within. Inspiration for painting material is drawn from travels throughout the U. S. and Europe. James also enjoys the challenge of painting abroad and his most recent paintings focus on the small villages dotting the English, Welsh, and Scottish coastline and the Norfolk region known as the Broads. The play of light and atmosphere on stone walls and buildings against a vivid landscape is both stunning and riveting.

James interprets these themes with a masterly touch honed by an intuitive sense of what is vital - the essential element that connects us to our environment and lets us feel its impact on our consciousness.

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1946, James has lived in several states but now calls Utah home where he lives with his wife Debra at the foot of 12,000' Mt. Timpanogos in the heart of Utah=s ski country. James received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in art from Brigham Young University in 1974, and has since studied and drawn inspiration from the likes of Sargent, Homer, and Turner. His work has been exhibited in numerous gallery shows and is in corporate and private collections including: Western Federal Savings & Loan Corporation, Sutton Industries, Marathon Oil Co. and the Marriot Corporation to name a few. Private collectors from the United States and abroad have collected hundreds of works over the past two decades of Taylor's career.

Selected works have been published into Limited Edition prints and distributed across the U.S. and Canada. James is a signature member of the UWS and is listed in "Contemporary Western Artists" by Peggy and Harold Samuels, "The Encyclopedia of Watercolor Landscape Techniques" and AWatercolor Flower Paintings@ by Hazel Soan, "Acrylic School" by Hazel Harrison, APainting Light & Shade@ by Patricia Seligman, and "Utah Art" by Vern Swanson.

James Harvey Taylor Art, Prints and Posters Collection