James Lynch was born in 1956 and has been painting professionally for thirty years. From his first sell-out exhibition in the 1990s he went on to win awards and prizes from the Royal Academy, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation and the Spectator. His patrons include the National Trust, the Folio Society and many eminent private collectors.
He exhibits regularly with Jonathan Cooper, Park Walk Gallery, London (Forthcoming Exhibition: ‘There Never Was a Finer Day’, Landscape Paintings of Wessex, 16 October – 8 November 2014).
He became known in the 1980s and 90s for his monumental animals set in visionary landscapes, but his recent work focuses on the West Country landscape and its seasonal light and dramatic weather.
James paints using the ancient medium of egg tempera. He mixes traditional gesso from raw ingredients and makes his paint according to Quattrocento recipes, using pure ground pigments, egg yolk and water. The paint is built up in thin layers and the surface hardens to one of the most durable and lightfast there is, with a sheen which gives a translucent glow to the colours.
“One can hardly imagine a more laborious, slow-maturing process. It probably accounts for the extraordinary sense of balance Lynch achieves in his work as though he is placing us at the still centre of the moving world.”
John Russell Taylor
James is married to painter, Kate Lynch, and they live on a hill overlooking the Somerset Levels and Moors. Their daugher, Alice Mary Lynch is a designer and dollmaker.
James studio commands breathtaking views over King’s Sedgemoor towards Glastonbury Tor. His interest in paragliding provides inspiration for his paintings.
Courtesy of the artist’s website.