​Artist James Usher is making a name for himself with his controversial paintings, one of which has won him a top award and a solo exhibition of his work. Sue Mason met him and learned more about his latest project, inspired by the characters of Hull’s trawling heyday . . .

James at work

James Usher’s paddock stretches down to the banks of the estuary, where the view of the Humber Bridge from here is nothing like that in an award-winning painting by him. Although called The Humber Bridge, it focuses not on the towers or even their reflection, but on a buxom, mini-skirted woman and other members of a rather aggressive-looking bunch standing in the foreground.

“Landscapes in themselves don’t appeal to me,” says the artist. “There have to be people in there somewhere.”

This unusual depiction of one of the nation’s most recognisable landmarks won James top prize in North Lincolnshire Council’s Open Exhibition of Contemporary Art. As well as having the pleasure of seeing his painting hanging in the council’s gallery at the 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in Scunthorpe, James was also granted a solo exhibition in 2011.

Not bad, considering he only decided to enter at the 11th hour; he hurriedly finished the work, which he had started six months previously, and dashed in with it at 11am when entries closed at noon.

Born in Burstwick in Holderness, James was brought up in nearby Ottringham where, even as a young child, he usually had a paintbrush in his hand.

“I’ve painted since as long as I can remember,” says James, sitting in the beamed cottage he shares with his wife Jackie. Behind him hangs a portrait he painted of renowned equine artist George Stubbs, who studied and dissected horses in a farmhouse just a few miles away from his South Ferriby home.

“We never had a television, so all I did was paint and draw.”

He knew he wanted to be an artist, but he was rejected by the art college he applied to because he had long hair and an attitude; essential prerequisites, one would have thought.

Next, he went for an interview as a commercial artist at a shoe factory in Hull.

“They put me in a studio with a small table with a light shining down on it and a stiletto shoe in the middle,” he recalls. “The interviewer came back and said what I’d done was the best that anyone had ever drawn at interview.

“He took me to see the boss, who looked me up and down and asked if it was my usual hairstyle. He asked if I’d be prepared to have my hair cut if I got the job, but I said no . . . I didn’t get the job.”

Artist James Usher with his self-portrait in the studio at his home in South Ferriby

It’s difficult to believe this man with the very short, grey hair and crimson V-neck jumper was such a rebel – that is, until you see his paintings, which are far from traditional.

The would-be art student turned would-be commercial artist settled for a job in the caravan industry. “It was fantastic money,” he says, by way of explanation.

Eventually he took up karate and became a professional karate instructor. Unfortunately, in 1979 he injured his back and had to have an operation on his spine.

“That was the end of physical work,” he says.

He now turned his attention to dealing in antique furniture, something he did for the next 25 years, with premises everywhere from Ottringham to Newark. It was only when the couple moved to South Ferriby eight years ago that James began painting in earnest.

“A change was required,” he says. “It’s idyllic here and it makes you want to paint.”

His parents split up when James was three and he never saw his father again. “He was a naval officer, originally from the East End of London, and after the war he worked on the Hull trawlers as a chief engineer. I have no recollection of him and he died when I was 14.

“From being this high, we had an oil painting of a trawler and my mother told me she took me to St Andrew’s Dock when I was 18 months old and the trawler was brand new. Three weeks later (after its sea trip) it looked ancient.

“From that, I could always paint trawlers, so I decided to do a series of paintings of the Hull trawler lads, whose best suits were powder blue with bell bottoms.”

He takes me into his winter studio (his summer one is an outbuilding in the garden) and shows me some black and white photos from the Raynors Pub on Hessle Road, given to him by the landlady.

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These are also inspiration for the paintings, one of which shows three trawler lads on Hessle Road and another, a couple outside the Wassand Arms pub.

“I usually draw the characters first and then decide what the background will be,” says James, showing me another painting in the series, this time of two couples outside a fish and chip shop.

He tells me that he used to paint wildlife, but then decided people are interesting too.

If the trawler lads, with their exaggerated features, are verging on caricatures, others are very different.

“I do really weird pictures too, but I can do traditional portraits as well, although it bores me now,” he says.

“A few years ago, I studied 20th century art and realised it appealed to me more than traditional realism.

“Picasso and Modigliani were bohemians and I found them intriguing. I loved that style and decided to try it and it has become my style now.

“I do a quick sketch (of the subject) and then paint them in oils.

“I use a limited palette – usually only three colours and black and white and strongly under-paint figures in cadmium orange, which makes the faces instantly recognisable as my work.

“Over-emphasis of facial expressions and noses also make figures more interesting and helps to create my own unique style of painting.

“It’s affordable art, with small pictures starting at £350 and bigger ones selling for £2,000.”

The Humber Bridge painting proved controversial because it’s focus is on a buxom woman rather than the bridge. The rebel in him is still there, even if now hidden under a neat hair cut, for he is pleased people have complained to him about this.

“The idea of art is to get people talking”, he says.

James paints mainly on stretched canvas and sometimes smaller canvas-covered boards. Some of his largest paintings are 5FT canvasses featuring football crowds.

“I’ve done Hull City, Chelsea, and Manchester United,” he says.

James’s maternal great-grandfather was a Prussian cabinetmaker who came to Hull from Hanover in the late 1860s and worked as manager for furniture-makers Cass & Co.

“ I still own a very elegant mahogany table from that time, made by him,” says James, who went to the same school – Withernsea High – as Steve Dews, one of the world’s greatest marine artists.

“Although a year or so younger, I knew him well, and in the late 60s and early 70s, I would see him in the local pub, the Station Hotel in Patrington, on a Friday night.”

James would agree his Picasso-style portraits, with lopsided cheekbones and eyes looking different ways, are not flattering.

He has done portraits of controversial artist Tracy Emin and equally-controversial singer Amy Winehouse in this style, although in both cases, the paintings were commissioned by fans.

“I love the Amy one,” says James. “It is so colourful and vibrant.

“No, they are not flattering, but sometimes people like to have a laugh at themselves.

“People like the portraits because they are different.

“I have found a technique that suits me and it gives me a lot of freedom because I don’t have to rely on realism. The end is what matters to me.”

Contact James Usher on: (01652) 635427.