Watercolor, Acrylic & Oils

Artist's Statement

I paint the world that surrounds me. My back yard speaks to me--and a big back yard it is at that! It includes the city of Wilmington, the Brandywine Valley, New Castle, a bit of nearby Pennsylvania, and Deer Isle, Maine. I grew up on Lovering Avenue in Wilmington. I now live in Hockessin, DE. My family has a place on the island of Deer Isle where we spend the summer months. When painting, I focus on the familiarity of the subject, looking deeply at the light and shadow, the setting, and conveying the season. My work is an outward reflection of the scene I’m observing. I try to be accurate to the scene while also revealing a bit of my personality. In these hurried times I’ve been given the gift to pause and talent to paint. In this show, I can only share what I see, and it’s all in my own backyard. I hope you enjoy the show and my comments about each piece.

Thank you for looking!

-W. James McGlynn, December 5, 2008

Since an early age, W. James McGlynn has had an all-consuming interest in art, history and nature. He feels that a landmark-landscape artist should be well acquainted with the history, architecture and natural environment of his subject matter. Over 30 years as a professional painter, Mr. McGlynn has dove-tailed his art talents with a vast knowledge of Delaware history, its architecture and its natural beauty.

Mr. McGlynn was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1944, raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and presently resides in Hockessin, Delaware. His background includes early lessons with noted illustrator, Frank Schoonover, and later with well known local artists as Bayard T. Berndt and Frank Delle Donne. He has a B.A. degree from Belmont Abbey College, located near Charlotte, North Carolina, and has attended the Haystack Mountain School on Deer Isle, Maine, The Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and has done extensive study of art history at the University of Delaware. He has reproduced his work with over thirty limited edition prints and has done several magazine covers and designer posters. Mr. McGlynn is well known for his charity work with his artistic talents as a fund raiser for several organizations and churches. It may also be noted that he received a bronze star in 1969 during the Vietnam War for his combat art with the 101st Airborne Division. In 2007, Mr. McGlynn was presented the prestigious Wilmington Award for excellence and achievements in the arts. The Wilmington Awards Program was created to honor citizens for outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the city of Wilmington (DE).

Primarily, Mr. McGlynn is a watercolorist. Occasionally, oils have been used as a medium. His paintings have a unique softness, yet with an appropriate amount of crisp detail to draw the viewer into the center of interest of the overall image. One can see how he expresses his understanding of sky, terrain, and those shapes covering the landscape with bright sunlight, subtle shadows or the illuminating qualities of overcast, dusk or nighttime atmosphere. Each painting retains a strong design element, either a diagonal road with its steep perspective, or with the play of vertical and horizontal shapes, off centered by color and tone. Each art piece is thought out primarily as an abstract design, and filled in with color, detail and realistic definition. With all of this, one can realize his artwork has a "difference" so sought after by collectors. Mr. McGlynn’s paintings are in many public, corporate and private collections.