The younger son of Nathalie "Jean" McCance, born on the 20th June 1953, educated at Brambletye, Marlborough and Dartington.  After a foundation year at Falmouth Art College he went on to study fine art at Chelsea in 1972.  While there, he took advantage of a student exchange program to go to the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1974-76 and has lived in America ever since.  He has worked in film and music but it is his painting that has brought him the greatest recognition.

ANNA EURYS, 2003
Oil on Linen
108 x 53 inches

His own website, jamesnares.com, has many more examples of his extraordinarily beautiful paintings, which despite being large are executed in a single brushstroke.

He met Ameena Meer, and her daughter, Sasha (b.7 Feb 1993), in the early '90s and they married and had two children, Zarina (b.20 Oct 1995) and Jahanara (b.2 Feb 1999)

Zarina, Jahanara and Sasha