– Painter Pekahiah James
By Daniel Haynes
What all began with fiddling around with a paintbrush one night a little less than a year ago, has now blossomed into what seems like a life calling for a painter with big dreams.
Pekahiah James, now 21 years old, might tell you that despite her recent start to the world of painting, it feels as if she has been “painting all her life”-something quite ironic for the girl who seriously dislikes clichés. You can call her Pikachu if her name is too difficult to pronounce; everyone calls her that anyways.

Pekahiah Lakeisha James was born on June 18, 1995 in Georgetown, to a family of three other girls and a boy. As fate would have it, she was always the most expressive one of the bunch.
Childhood was filled with fun, thanks to her expressive nature coupled with her free spirit.
“Childhood was so much fun for me; I used to hang out with my siblings and just pick trouble a lot,” she recounted as a smile crossed her face. (It was an added bonus having her younger sister present at the interview, who rolled her eyes in response to her picking trouble memory).

It was this expressiveness that was markedly present as she grew older and now she sees it as no surprise that her calling involves using painting as an avenue to express herself. However, she views her paintings as not limited to her expression but as pieces that other persons can internalize as their own.

“For me being a painter is so much more than you’d think it is. You’d look at a color and just see a color, I’d look at a colour and see the infinite possibilities behind it,” she stated.
Her introduction to art as a whole, did not start one year ago, as she was an art student in school, even writing the subject for CSEC-though at this point she was doing Textiles and Fibre. There wasn’t a real fascination with fine arts for her at that time, she claimed.
Pekahiah the painter
“I must absolutely be alone,” she stated when asked about her painting process. It wasn’t a statement made out of arrogance but one made as a simple matter-of-fact since she paints better when left well alone. Her first painting was a piece she calls Gaia – a figure taken from Greek mythology who is the personification of the earth. It was with this painting that the life she knew was changed.

“Gaia came to me at a time when I needed to paint; there was so much going on in my life and I just decided to let that flow onto the canvas,” she stated. “I would continuously update her and this is what she turned into.”
Gaia, along with a few other pieces, were showcased at this year’s GuyExpo and one person offered the “newbie” painter $300,000 for the piece.
“I just couldn’t part with her, she represented more to me than a painting,” she stated before joking “I should have taken the money, huh?”
The bubbly painter is a ball of energy who is always challenging herself and can be quiet moody.
“When I’m focused on a painting I think I’m the moodiest person there is,” she laughed, a statement which was acknowledged by another rolling of the eyes from her sister.
According to Pekahiah, she must always be in an environment that is changing and one that allows her to keep moving forward since she becomes unsettled if there is stagnation. To this date, she has completed over 20 paintings, some of which she has done for persons privately.

“What I love is that when someone brings an idea for me, it’s something new, something for me to sink my claws into and just work on,” she stated. And what could be better than new challenges for the person who hates routine?

Her painting process has also taken some refining since initially she could not paint without a glass of tea by her side. That was up to the point where she started to dip her pain brushes in the tea she was drinking thinking it was a cup of paint thinners (something she is very embarrassed about).

“There have been so many times I dipped my brushes in my tea or almost drank thinners then I’m like, ‘Oops wrong cup.” So the tea drinking definitely had to go,” she stated, laughing. In more recent times, the painter has traded her tea for something a little “stronger”.

“Hey, you can’t be an artist and not drink!” she stated adamantly in an effort to justify it, but with her work you simply cannot argue with the results.
The 21-year-old also laughs at what she calls her lack of fashion sense. “You’d think as someone who does art I’d at least have some fashion sense, but I do not,” she stated. “Like I look at my friends who are painters and artists and I’m like, ‘Whoa!’ and here I am over here with my lack of fashion sense.”

In the world of art it is no secret that every painter needs an anchor to keep them grounded and for Pekahaiah, her family plays the role of anchor. “I’m very close to my family; we’re such a close knit bunch and despite the fact that we’re imperfect I love them to death,” she added in a sombre tone. “They encourage me, support me, and understand me.”
For her, the main goal right now is to have her own studio, as well as her own art supply shop, and ultimately finding a path to happiness, as happiness is her main goal.
“I laugh a lot, and I try to be happy because happiness is my main goal,” she stated. When asked what her personal mantra was, “Above all, choose happiness” was her answer, in keeping with her pursuance of happiness.

Right now the canvas is splattered with colour for the 21-year-old, who recently completed working on a project for the Massay Group of Companies. The young painter, who describes her life in colours hopes to complete her “canvas” while accomplishing what she has aimed to. It’s impossible to doubt that with her talent, life is not what she paints it.