James Rose

Of the four spiritual elements, I find myself painting water the most (despite being a Taurean earth sign). It flows through all living things. We were born from water; it surrounds us, and we will eventually become one with it again. Water heals and refreshes; it also floods and destroys. In my dreams it is the unknown, the abyss. When I enter water, everything in my consciousness changes. For years I painted people moving through the subway system, which, in a way, is like painting a river. In nature I might paint a forest where water courses through the fauna or the rain and fog out on the harbor. I embrace it— painting the mist, the rain, the snow. I am drawn to water as my subject, and I will continue to represent it in one form or another in my work.