Christened James, he was born in 1958 in Hertfordshire, where he started his education. He began drawing at an early age, influenced by the visual world that surrounded him and also by his grandfather, a shipwright in his earlier years who had a skill for drafting detailed pictures of various sea going craft.

Jim went on to win some awards for his paintings in his teenage years, often venturing down to London to sell his paintings on the railings at 'Green Park' to the passing public or sometimes visiting the V & A museum in London where he would sit and draw portraits from the hanging tapestries. He obtained a diploma in illustration and upon leaving art college submerged himself into the world of advertising and commercial illustration as a freelancer working for international publishing houses and advertising agencies, having created his own unique style in the medium of gouache he would also paint for the fine art market .

In 1983 he won 'Illustrator of the Year'. He is also a founder member of the 'Nature in Art' gallery in Gloucestershire, the only permanent static exhibition of wildlife art in the UK where he has also been 'artist in residence' on more than one occasion. Today, 2009 most of his work is in the medium of acrylics.