Jim Tait was born in Baltasound, Shetland in 1948. After attending art college and university, and a varied subsequent career, he now lives in Lerwick and has turned his lifetime hobby of oil painting into a full-time occupation.  He says: I hesitate to use the lofty word 'inspiration', but if I have ever had any, it has come from the constantly changing seas and skies of my native Shetland. People from elsewhere have told me that the light in Shetland has a special silvery quality. This may be true, but the sky on a showery February afternoon can contain almost every colour of the rainbow!

When I am starting to paint a seascape, I ask myself these questions. Where is my light going to come from, with what level and degree of cloud cover? Where is the wind going to come from, and how much of it? Once this is settled, the rest is merely technical."

 

There are three main loves in my life: (at least, only three I can talk about!)

These are, in no particular order - oil painting, the sea and ships.  "Since my earliest days I have loved the movement of the sea, and the way that ships of all sizes move through it, gracefully and powerfully.  I have spent (or misspent) my life trying to recreate this on board and canvas, and I am now close to getting it right!”

 

Jim Tait

​