James wrote, “It’s the idea that you can catch a fleeting glimpse of something, you turn your head and it’s gone… Was it real or not?”

James was very real, and yet who really knew him? With James’ passing last year, I realized that I knew my husband, but I did not know the artist before I came into his life. I also realize now with this labor of love to restore James legacy, it is more than sharing his talent as an artist, he has something timeless to share with all of us from his Earth walk. For James the world was not what it seems to most of us, it was a world where the curtain of everyday life has been pulled back, and there is magic afoot.

As Allison and I collaborate on our blog titled “I Caught a Fleeting Glimpse”, it gives us time to explore, understand, and share the magic of James Yale ..the Man, the Father, my Husband.

For both Allison and I, there are a zillion questions we wished we had asked James. I was a witness without a map entering the world of James Yale. I never took him for granted…but, I do not know the stories behind his art, nor asked him to describe his experience as he stopped the world and looked deeply into a flower with his magnifying glass, seeing a whole universe in microscopic detail and wonder. He never described his artwork. And yet, I knew James always wanted YOU to make up your own stories viewing his art…have your own experiences. What does the phrase “I Caught A  Fleeting Glimpse” inspire in you?

And for Allison, who as a young girl and his assistant, watching her father create these masterpieces, this blog looking back floods her memories and is a key to his technique and to the stories of days with just dad, the artist, the models, his magical gift with animals, and the heroism of painting in the throes of Multiple Sclerosis. The stories she is willing to share in this blog gives her as an adult more insight into the man beyond her dad.

As Allison and I collaborate on this blog, it will also include rediscovered art that you may own, or modeled for, or are inspired by. Both of us invite you to share your James Yale art, stories, and experiences behind the art on this website. There are over two thousand pastels out in the world from art fairs, there are paintings in Europe, and throughout the US. It will also help us build his catalog.

Thank you for joining us to uncover and discover the World of James Yale. This is a heart project, a cosmic agreement unfinished that will go on into infinity. This is the man I will always love and I believe he has something to say, and to share with the world that is meant to live on… Maybe even remind us to slow down, look deeper, be more curious, and you just might catch a fleeting glimpse of an everyday miracle.

This is a mystery. The Case of the Lost Artist of The Ozarks. Let us all go into the mystery, and rediscover James Yale,

My gratitude,
Charlotte Buchanan Yale

I Caught a Fleeting Glimpse