James Naughton was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1971, and apart from three years at university in Leeds and a short spell in America, he has never left. It is from this large, industrial town in the north of England that he began, what is turning out to be an extraordinary career as one of Britain's most accomplished and sought after landscape painters.

On the moors that surround Bolton James spends hours walking, soaking in the atmosphere - the shifting light and ever changing weather conditions. On returning to his studio he sets about trying to reduce all these differing emotions into one painting. This is done by constantly adding, wiping off and pushing around the oil paint until he sees something that he can grasp. He strives for that 'sense of the real' through a process on almost sub-concious abstract mark-making. The finished paintings never convey an actual place but communicate an emotional power, that essence of a moment glimpsed or felt when alone in a large landscape.

James has won a number of awards, both on a regional and national level resulting in his work being exhibited successfully around the country. With many sell-out shows to his name, his paintings can now be found in some of the country's most important private collections.