Thompson, James

Born and raised in suburban Wilmington, DE, Jim Thompson began his artistic endeavors as a teen with pencil drawings.  With his mother’s encouragement and her provision of his first set of oil paints and brushes, he began to paint.  In the mid-1940’s, while still in high school, his work was shown in a Wilmington bank – his first public recognition.  Encouraged to participate in the 1974 Chadds Ford Annual Art Show, he entered three paintings, winning first prize and selling all three.  His early works were created from memory of places he had been and scenes which pleased his eye.  After a hiatus of several years, to focus on building his Wilmington dental practice, Jim resumed painting using photographs of his subject matter.  This better served his desire to reproduce both natural and architectural subjects with exactness – probably influenced by his professional disciplines.  This technique proved time and energy intensive, as can be seen in the detail.