A celebrated local artist has launched a solo exhibition at the Burnham-on-Crouch Museum, which will run until August 6.

Peter James, 74, a retired boatyard worker and waterman, is well-known in the local community as a gifted artist. His exhibition will include some of his previous work.

Peter studied at the Bath Academy of Art and has lived in Burnham since the early 1960s. He has been producing intricate, powerful work for over 40 years. This is his first exhibition in five years.

"The exhibition is a retrospective and includes new work some of which can be attributed to discovering the iPad," Peter says.

Rarely seen in public, Peter's work is said to be "dramatic and challenging, exploring the mindscapes and landscapes of the human condition, examining beauty, savagery, sex, love, injustice and happenstance". It is often inspired by the drama of the Essex marsh and river landscape, with Burnham-on-Crouch a particular focus.

Often complex, minutely-detailed and intricate, his fine-line drawings are rich and dense, describing fascinating mental and physical landscapes amid diary-like story-telling and typography.

Local influence is most apparent in the scale, space and horizon lines. Rivers and flow, both literal and metaphorical, feature strongly, with fields populated by tiny figures and small marks on the horizon evoking the empty saltmarsh landscape of the Dengie.

The paintings, often abstract, are usually striking and sometimes comedic, colourful and stark.

A gifted writer and observer, Peter is also a remarkable photographer. Some of his photos will be on show. He rarely sells his work and has never allowed it to be seen outside of Burnham. He says, this time, some prints may be available for sale.

The Burnham-on-Crouch Museum (CM0 8HW) is at the bottom of Coronation Road and can also be accessed from the waterfront. It is described as "a perfect drop-in during a walk towards the Marina and Creeksea from the town centre".

The exhibition is open on weekends from 10am until 5pm. It is closed during lunchtime, between 1pm and 2pm.

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