James Ross Chisholm’s paintings depict the scenic landscape of the Northeastern coast of the United States. In a nod to the French and American 19th-Century landscape painters, Chisholm works en plein air. By inserting himself directly into nature, Chisholm has developed an interest in how the atmospheric conditions influence his compositions. He welcomes nature’s accidents and uses the unpredictability as an artistic impetus. How will the cold impact his palette? Will the rain leave traces on his canvas? How will the light, color, or mood change?
Based in Salem, Massachusetts, Chisholm’s work can be found in collections throughout Massachusetts and New York. A graduate of Northeastern University, receiving his Bachelor of Science, Chisholm later attended the Boston Museum School and the Massachusetts College of Art where he received his Master of Science in Art Education and has been teaching art since 1973.
JAMES CHISHOLM ON
Ipswich River, Topsfield, East View, 2017
Watercolor on paper
28” x 21”
Millbrook: Trees Fallen Across Brook from Winter Storms (March/April), 2021
Watercolor on paper 20” x 27”
Millbrook: Trees Fallen Across Brook from Winter Storms (May/June), 2021
Watercolor on paper
21” x 26”
I paint and draw every day – most of the time outdoors, whenever and wherever. I also continue to carve wood, based on natural themes. I enjoy the experiences that nature provides during the various seasons of the year, and in recent years have exhibits of my paintings with that in mind. My artwork is evolving experientially; working outside so much, in all kinds of weather, has slowly instilled in me an interest in what the weather conditions cause to happen; particularly in weather extremes. For instance, if it is very cold or rainy, how conditions will affect the compositional outcome of the picture. For instance, if it’s very cold outside, I am interested in what effects will occur on the watercolor sheet if the watercolor freezes, or the colors run If its rainy. I welcome the accidents that nature often provides. The natural world is a never-ending source of inspiration and artistic variety; essentially, and changing weather conditions allow me to enter into a ‘dialogue’ with the view, that contributes significantly to the compositional moment. Although my technical approaches follow a traditional under painting foundation, I have recently been laying in brighter stronger, primary colors at the underpainting stage, and later modulate the colors with wet into wet painting to establish a more luminous effect, and a greater depth of field. By working in this manner, I feel the images seems to emerge from the canvas or paper, in a sense evolve from nature; not so much as an attempt to replicate what I see, but to transform and intensify what I see in nature, into a moment of poetic intuition. For
