James has combined a full time Engineering Surveying and Design career with a passion for Australian Wildlife Art. This self-taught artist, thoroughly researches each subject by using all his own resource material from sketches to photography. The final composition may be components of many sketches and photographic images collected on walks and visits to many of Australia's National Parks and bush land reserves. All his work is achieved using acrylic where layers of transparent colour work is achieved using to build tonal effects.

His studio is, a loft above his shed with French windows opening out onto the leaves of gum trees. This alone gives him great inspiration. James says there is a precise manner in which wildlife artwork is produced and accuracy is often the key to what makes a painting success.

James is a talented artist, who is seeking to use his art to bring attention to the significance of the rich diversity of our wildlife and flora. His paintings have an ordered distinctive style, which appeals to many collectors. A considerable amount of thought and research is combined to ensure that each work is as accurate and pleasing to the eye as it can be.

The beginning of a new work is generally an idea or recollection of a fleeting glimpse of a particular bird in the wild. He begins each new work by collecting as much resource material from his sketches, photographic records and confirming the particular bird's habitat. More often than not James visits the bird’s habitat to establish a real feel for its environment and to try and incorporate some of the birds landscape and its surrounds in the final image. Everywhere James goes he carries a camera, tripod and notebook to capture some of those most unique moments in nature. To James, there is nothing more rewarding

Says James; "I began to paint wildlife after obsessively observing the colour, humour and movement of our native birds. I find all of my resource material in the bush, often sitting for hours to capture or see a glimpse of a particular bird, sometimes walking kilometers for that special piece of reference material or visiting the Lamington National Park and scouring local river and creek banks to observe particular birds. Being able to transpose my passion for wildlife onto canvas has been one of the most positive things I have done in my life. To me there can be no more deserving pursuit at the moment, than to share my art and perhaps in some way raise the profile of, and urgency for protecting our natural native heritage"

Most of James's work now incorporates a full rural scene in the background and this will become what he is known for and will differentiate him from other wildlife artists because landscape painting and wildlife art are two different disciplines. Wildlife art is precise detail work where as landscape is the opposite, it is phased out. This is why most wildlife artists paint everything in the foreground.

James's mother was a landscape artist and James grew up with landscapes watching her during his entire youth. For James landscape painting is second nature, but wildlife is his true passion so combining the two is what he loves.

You effectively are obtaining two pictures in one. A rural landscape and a wildlife painting. And the price of James Hough's work is still at the lower end of the scale compared to other wildlife artists who are twice, three or four times the price per square centimetre of picture.

James Hough Website