Born on a ranch in West Texas, spent his formative years as a ranch hand, miles from anywhere. His unending passion for art and literature found from the books he was able to attain, and his love of nature drove him beyond the boundaries of Texas and out into the world. Living and working in many countries as a construction worker, a Seven-Eleven employee, a restaurateur, a stock trader, a trader of museum quality work such as Rolph Scarlett. He has written a book of memoirs, "Steps" - hidden bits and pieces of life lived and told as fiction. Yet always, he is a painter, the one thing that has kept him grounded.

His works have sold privately to collectors all over the world, through galleries in Dallas, Houston, Santa Fe, Taos, and Beaver Creek. James’ artistic training stems from a deep appreciation of the works of Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Tamayo, and Cezanne.
 
The literature he appreciates are Lawrence, Steinbeck, Marquez, Joyce, Nabokov, Bulgakov and others. To him they are the fuel that