James Middleton
James Middleton is a Canadian artist, living in Nova Scotia. He is a founding member of the Sunrise Painters Portrait Group and a member of the Portrait Society of Canada, the Portrait Society of America, the Society of Canadian Artists, the Oil Painters of America, the Ontario Plein Air Society, and the Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy. His work includes portraits, landscapes, figurative work and still lifes.
Middleton’s landscapes and portrait sketches have been called impressionistic realism. He enjoys the description and the balance it brings to his commissioned portraits.
A turning point in his artistic career was in 2006, when he attended a week-long workshop with master painter Albert Handell in Putney, Vermont. There he met and painted with the legendary painter Richard Schmid, his wife Nancy Guzik, and their group the Putney Painters. It was such an inspiring and educational experience that he returned to Putney the following year for a second workshop with Handell and the opportunity to further learn from Schmid. Other influences have been Sorolla, Zorn, Sargent and Fechin.