Artist Statement                                                              

                  The debt we owe to the artists that have preceded us is incalculable. The range of valid expression that has become available to artists in the last 150 years is most welcome. I am not an advocate of a single method of achieving a work. Art is too vast in possibility. My principal enthusiasm is in responding to other persons in portraiture and the figure. This is not however an exclusive source of involvement for me as a painter and sometime print-maker. My portraits are created in the presence of the subject. The occasion is a three way "conversation" among the sitter, the artist, and the canvas, in an atmosphere of comfort, respect, vulnerability, intimacy, music and fun! When the subject's essence moves to the canvas and meets on equal terms with that of the artist to the satisfaction of both, the portrait has a good chance of coming alive in a meaningful way. I explore many ways of achieving this. It is always a step into the unpredictable. No commitments are made unless the three parties agree that the adventure has been a success!

                                                                                              James MacDougall