James is a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) and a member of The Manchester Academy of Fine Art (MAFA). His seascape and landscape paintings have been awarded the Charles Pears Award and the Sir Peter Scott Award. Work has also been commissioned by the Sunday Times, the British Tourist Authority, BBC Holidays, Christies and Bonhams.

He works full time from his studio at the Mill House Gallery in Parbold, Lancashire where all visitors are welcome. He travels regularly around the British coast, particularly Cornwall, Pembrokeshire and western Scotland and has also done considerable bodies of work in France, Tuscany and Venice.