James studied at Edinburgh College of Art 1974-78, and completed his postgraduate year there in 1979. McDonald has painted full-time since studying at Edinburgh, and his work has won numerous awards including the Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship, British Council Travel Grant and the Alexander Stone Foundation Award. He has exhibited widely throughout the U.K. and overseas, and is in private and public collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; BBC; STV and all major Scottish banks. In 2004 he established Naked Eye Fine Art, publishing cards and limited edition prints by contemporary Scottish artists.