James was bom in Ormiston, Scotland, December 1937, educated at
Bonnyrigg Junior and Senior Secondary Schools and Lasswade High School and was
prominent throughout these elementary years as a budding artist. He continued
this interest with one year at London Art College.
Jim, who came to Canada in October1969, settled in Lloydminster, Alberta,
after an initial stay in Evansburg, Alberta. This move came in 1971 when
he undertook a three-year course with the Art Instruction Schools, Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He graduated in Commercial and Illustrated Art and always enjoyed a
tremendous support from wife, Anna and three children Tracy, Keith, and Mark.
While appreciating all forms of visual art, Jim leaned towards oil painting
as a preference. The use of wet on wet technique is often the expression
in traditional subjects of sea and landscapes. Basic or Gesso based
applications are used on portraits and wildlife subjects. Jim worked from a
small studio in his home.
His work is shown in Norwich, and Luton, England: in Elgin, and Edinburgh,
Scotland and in Saskatoon, and Lloydminster, Canada.