JAMES DOWNIE was born in Manchester in 1949 and went to school in the south of the city before working in the building industry for many years.  But his interest in art started very early on, strongly influenced by the buildings and people of Manchester and the paintings in the local art galleries that he visited frequently.  

One particularly strong influence has been the work of famed Manchester artist LS Lowry and in many ways Downie can be seen as the true successor to Lowry in the genre of Northern industrial art.  Downie started to paint full time in 1989 and since then has produced a steady flow of wonderful images of the Manchester region as it was in the 1950s and 1960s.  He is a keen cyclist and frequently cycles around the area taking photographs to be used later as inspiration for future paintings.  

James Downie now has an ever increasing number of admirers who appreciate his imaginative, quirky and appealing artistic style.  This has manifested itself in a rapid increase in the demand for and prices of his work. The artist now lives and has his studio in Cornwall but returns frequently to the city of his birth to gain fresh insights to inspire his artistic imagination.

One leading gallery owner has said of the Northern Art scene: “The paintings have a charming naivety at first glance, but then you quickly realise that there is considerable skill in the use of perspective, light and impasto, producing paintings with immediate appeal. In every painting there are a multitude of little vignettes to enjoy and excite the eye.”

James Downie’s works have featured on ‘Flog It’ and ‘Dickinson’s Real Deal’ on both BBC and Independent television where he won critical acclaim for the quality of his paintings.

As James himself says:  “I was born in 1949 and went to school in south Manchester. I was always interested in art and spent many hours in the town galleries  studying the old masters. It was my best subject at school and just love painting. I keep trying to perfect the art as best I can. I left the building industry in 1989 to paint full time, painted pictures for the tourist industry for 22 years, but now just paint what i like to paint.”

This completely new painting is an original work in oil on stretched canvas and measures 12”X12” (30 centimetres X 30 centimetres). The sides are painted and the painting can be hung without framing. Note: the painting is signed by the artist (see photos).

Complete satisfaction guaranteed: my aim is that buyers should be one hundred per cent satisfied with their purchase. If you are dissatisfied for any reason, please e-mail me and I will endeavour to resolve any problem. (14 days refund, buyers pays return postage guarantee.) Prompt despatch in secure packaging assured.