James Kelso — July 6, 1934 - November 28, 2025

JAMES “Jim” Kelso, a retired copywriter and lifelong painter, has died aged 91.

Jim was an active member of the Watlington creative community. He was artist-in-residence at Watlington library for 10 years, a post that gave him great pride and pleasure and routinely took part in ArtWeeks, opening his home studio to visitors.

He was also a regular contributor to the Henley Standard, submitting new paintings, letters, cartoons and poems.

Jim and his wife Marianne moved to Watlington in 2014 after living for almost 40 years in Christmas Common.

They met in 1960 in London, when Marianne was visiting from her native Sweden, and married in Stockholm in 1965, before moving to Oxfordshire in 1975 with their young family.

Born in 1934 in Chelsea, Jim was raised above the Rising Sun pub in Fulham Road, where his mother was one of Britain’s first female licensees, and survived the Blitz, rationing and National Service to forge a successful career in advertising.

He established his own agency, James Kelso Ltd, in the mid-Sixties, leading a small creative team that specialised in print advertising in an exciting period for what was then an emerging industry.

Throughout the Seventies and Eighties they produced ads for numerous large-circulation magazines including the Radio Times and several other BBC publishing titles including Gardeners’ World.

However, Jim’s passion was always painting and, for more than 60 years, he submitted works to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and other London venues, including the Royal Society of British Artists, and routinely had his work displayed.

He specialised in representative work, including portraiture, industrial landscapes and unlikely perspectives on rural views.

Jim painted many local subjects, including Watlington library and High Street, barns at Britwell, cottages at Wormsley and views of the Chilterns above Pishill and Stonor Cricket Club.

He continued to paint until the very last months of his life, turning his garden shed into a studio where he could be found at work seven days a week, between meals.

He died peacefully at home on November 28.

Jim is survived by his children Paul and Lisa and five grandchildren, Daisy, Finn, El, Chloe and Alec. They will miss him greatly but remember him with joy.

Paul Kelso