When I finished my art course in 1974 I had intended spending two weeks of every month painting and two weeks singing - music is the  other big love of my life - but things don’t always work out as planned. For better or for worse, music took over my life and I’ve been quite  literally singing (and playing guitar and double bass) for my supper  ever since. And all the other meals as well.

Although art has had to take something of a back seat, a move to  Wharfedale a few years ago and an introduction to its friendly  artistic community made me get the brushes out again. Yet for some  reason, despite living in one of the most beautiful areas of the  country, I didn’t launch myself solely into landscapes.

As a singer, I’ve avoided pigeon-holes and have sung folk, blues,  swing and classical with equal joy. And so I re-approached art in the  same spirit. As Picasso said: “I paint everything”. Whatever the inspiration for a canvas, it’s important for me to  capture and to communicate the moment, be that laughter,  contemplation, movement, whatever.

A biographical note...

Hilary James gained a BA(hons) in Fine Art at Reading University in  the 1970s under the late Sir Terry Frost and went on to complete a  Postgraduate Certificate of Education.
She subsequently followed a career in music (possessed of ‘one of  Britain’s finest voices’ - BBC Radio 4) and has recorded four solo  albums and follows a busy international touring schedule.

She is also a fine instrumentalist, self-taught on double bass and  guitar, but famously features in the Mandolinquents, Britain’s first  modern mandolin quartet, with her amazing mandobass.

With her regular musical partner Simon Mayor she has always  maintained a keen involvement in music for children, and still fits  in schools performances whenever her schedule allows. She  presented  and wrote for BBC Schools music programmes for six years and, with  Simon, has now written over sixty songs for children. The two have  produced seven albums of original music for children, including five  in their Musical Mystery Tour series. In 1992, Faber Music published  a book of their songs which Hilary illustrated. In 2003, Hilary rekindled her passion for painting and now divides  her time between art and music.