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ing ball. Being naughty and trying not to get caught!” He trained as an illustrator in Wales in the 80s, then soon got a job designing theme parks for a company in Clapham, North London. “I did that for two to three years, it was all a bit weird – none of them were ever built!” He then moved to Manchester and became a freelance illustrator. He was self employed and got himself an agent, who happened to be Noddy Holder’s wife. (James says he never met Noddy but they spoke a few times on the phone.) This, he admits, was a bit of a wilderness time: “I was a jack-of-all-trades really and master of none. I became a ‘Mr Fix It’ picking up second hand illustrating jobs where the original artist had failed to come up with the goods and the client wanted it put right.” James got a lot of advertising jobs in that way: “It was back in the 80s when computers were just becoming a big thing so I did a few pictures of computer screens which were used on an advert of some kind. Then the recession hit and everything went a bit black.” He ended up moving back to London and reluctantly started working for the theme park company again. “I didn’t want to, so I said if they wanted me they would have to pay me a lot of money, I can’t remember how much I put to them but they called my bluff and said okay! I only worked for them for while though before becoming a dispatch rider. I sped round London on my old Triumph!” In 1990 James moved to Dart- mouth to be with his parents and got a job at the Carved Angel washing dishes - a job which he loved and which helped him save up enough to pay off his debts and go travelling. He visited India, Nepal, China Indonesia and Australia and says the best bit was the freedom. “It was far from luxurious, I survived on £5 a day! India was amazing, more happens to you in one day in India than six months anywhere else.” He travelled for two years and stayed in some of the worst hotels you will ever come across (his words!) down back


“The best ideas hit


you when you aren’t looking for them.”


alleys with no windows but he says when he was young these things didn’t seem to matter. “One of my best memories is travelling by bus from India to Nepal. I soon realised that these buses got very crowded and uncom- fortable so I climbed onto the roof rack and spent the whole journey nestled amongst the luggage in the open air. I remember thinking, as we travelled along passing temples and mountains, that life probably wouldn’t get much better.” When he returned to Dartmouth James decided to let go of the idea of getting a job and focus solely on his art. He soon established contacts and made friends with Mark Riley who owns Coombe Gallery in Foss Street and Annie Bowie who owns a gallery in Totnes. It wasn’t long before he was a regular exhibitor at both. “I sell most of my work during my exhibitions at


the two galleries. I spend 90% of the year getting ready for them, then it all gets hung up and hopefully sold within a couple of weeks.” He likes to sell a minimum of 30 pieces at each exhibition and prices range from £500 to £10,000.


James openly admits he is a procrastinator and spends the morning making tea and laying out his


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