JAMES HARVEY BAILLIE

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JAMES HARVEY BAILLIE Peacefully on March 7, 2009, Jim passed away of lung cancer at the age of 61. Predeceased by his father James, and his mother Constance, who Jim spent 17 years of his life caring for. Leaving behind sister Lynne Partington, and her children Elizabeth (Danny), Geoffrey and Robert; sister Rae Kerver (Hank), and their children Peter, Jennifer (Colin) and Heather (Ron); and brother John (Renee Beaubien), and their son Dylan; and great-nieces and nephews Stephanie, Jessica, Coleton, Cooper and Hannah. Belated thanks to the Grade Three Music Teacher who told Jim he wasn't good enough to be in the class choir. Mortified, he never sang another note in his life. Instead, he went home and drew a picture of a moose, which was so good it brought him attention from the entire grade school. Jim's path in life was set. His early development as an artist during the 1960s came through doing water colours of fish for Mr. Houston's Grade Twelve Biology class, and from selling pencil sketches of your favourite Beatle for a quarter apiece. He graduated to detail-perfect oil reproductions of famous portraits by Hals and especially Velasquez, his strongest personal influence. By this process, Jim developed his own individual technique of hyper-realism. I was able to focus my eyes more and more on what I was looking at. Because I'd see more and more detail as the years went by, I'd have to paint more detail. This attention lent his work a three-dimensional, textural, quality. The wrinkles on an old woman's face, the fur on an animal's back, the dry rustles of scarlet autumn leaves, and the warmth of sunshine on whichever subject he chose could almost be felt in his paintings. A brief period of recognition came in the early 70s, while Jim worked for a federally funded Local Initiative Project. In a departure from painting, Jim was employed to design and produce a series of silk-screened posters advertising the project, usually in an Art Nouveau style. As soon as they were put up on telephone poles, people would come along and collect them. Jim was a prolific worker, whose many paintings are spread across the country in a number of personal collections. His career was composed of three distinct, albeit overlapping stages: first, portraying people, second, focusing on animals, and last primarily depicting landscapes, especially of Canadian Shield country. Aspects that stand out most in memory are the dynamic spark in the eyes of his animals, the moody undertones in his numerous studies of Marilyn Monroe, and perhaps his two most notable portraits, those of Charlie Esquatch dreaming, and of Poundmaker, emerging from rich black shadow. While I was painting, I was never satisfied. I always thought I could do better. But now that I'm not painting anymore, and I've reflected on it, I really really do think I've done a nice body of work over my career. At Jim's request there will be no funeral. Any flowers planted in his memory would be much appreciated. Thank you to the staff at Riverview Health Centre for making his last days so comfortable.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Mar 10, 2009