Doreen James

I took early retirement as a BBC Costume Designer to paint colourful 5 foot portrait compositions. Two of which – ‘Learning to Walk’ and ‘The Drama of Eating Out’ – were exhibited at The Mall Galleries. Fortunately for this exhibition, throughout my life, I have produced smaller household-sized portraits, life, landscape as both drawing and paintings. All these works show my pleasure in line and colour.

The foundation blocks of my career were the teaching I received from tutors who I worked with on University level courses, Diploma in Art, Art Teachers Diploma and a Masters from UCL (Slade). A panel of stage designers also awarded me two bursaries from The Arts Council to work at stage design. Costume Design at The BBC gave me the opportunity to work with Alan Bennett, Harold Pinter, Lady Antonia Fraser and ‘Dr Who’.

I now take portrait commissions and enjoy exhibiting at BEAT where I can share the pleasure I have in looking at and painting images. Some of my drawings and photographs have been turned into cards. Also on display will be portraits, drawings and paintings, as well as Theatre and BBC Costume Designs. These will be for sale both framed and unframed evidencing my experience across the arts.