Jim Fitzpatrick is an entirely self-taught artist and despite having no formal art training his work has succeeded in capturing the imagination of an international audience. His earliest memories of painting and drawing go back to his childhood, and growing up in Skerries in North County Dublin:

"I was only four or five at the time and our house was right on the rocks by the sea. One afternoon there was a terrific storm. The sky turned black and the waves crashed against the rocks, lit only by flashes of lightning. My mother was absolutely terrified and stood back from the window but I was absolutely transfixed. There was a yacht bobbing up and down on the waves like a toy boat; the sail was ripped loose by the wind and the boat began to fill with water and capsize with the two men on board desperately trying to keep it upright. I could hear my mother praying as the yacht went down and the men bobbed about in the water like corks. Strangest of all was this round glowing shape that floated in a sort of zigzag above where the boat went down, leaving a kind of bright misty trail behind it. It hovered in mid-air for quite a while and then simply faded away. I learned sometime later that this phenomenon was known as ball lightning, and strangely enough I have never seen it since, despite my still living by the sea. After that the lifeboat appeared with a searchlight but the two men had drowned. Later as my mother was cooking dinner, I sneaked upstairs to my fathers room and helped myself to his paints and on a big sheet of paper produced the first painting I remember, of the lifeboat searching for the men. I can recall that painting exactly, even today, with its dark indigo background, bright smears of yellow coming from the searchlight with the ball lightning hanging overhead though in reality it was well gone by the time the lifeboat arrived. This was my first recorded use of artistic license...

After college I went directly into advertising, working as a junior assistant art director - a grand title for a job that earned me two quid a week. I remained in advertising for about seven years and enjoyed nearly every minute of it. I became very successful and at one stage was earning more than the President at the time. It wasn't enough as I was totally frustrated artistically so one bright May morning, in 1972, I decided to chuck it all in and become an artist. This was a difficult decision to make as I had a wife and two children to support and by the end of the year I was the real thing; an impoverished artist. Despite the fact that a poster I produced under my own imprint in 1968 of the Cuban revolutionary hero Che Guevera Lynch had achieved worldwide circulation I was quite famous: but due to the fact that I made the image copyright-free I earned nothing from it personally, nor did I wish to. I was rescued from oblivion by two unexpected developments: Motif Editions of London, a respected art publishing house, decided to publish my Celtic work as posters and cards which were very successful and Alan Aldridge and Associates in London approached me with the purpose of becoming my agent. At that time Aldridge was one of the best known and most respected artists around and formed an agency to represent those artists that particularly appealed to him. The money that I earned from both kept me afloat during these difficult times but it was Philip Lynott and Thin Lizzy who really made the difference and got me up on my feet."
- Jim Fitzpatrick