James MacKeown is the grandson of the late Tom Carr (1909-1999), one of Belfast's most distinguished painters, and was taught mainly by his grandfather. Though James never attended any formal school of art, he evidently absorbed the profoundly teachable style which Tom Carr had learnt at the Slade School in London and also through his close association in the1930's with the Euston Road School of Painters. Carr's style of painting was essentially private and contemplative in character and he was also influenced by Monet and Bonnard in his later paintings. MacKeown is equally contemplative in his own paintings and is interested in the behaviour of light in quiet domestic interiors or cafes, he is also interested in structure and form of objects and figures. He creates truly beautiful paintings mainly in oil.

James responds to the appealing landscape and seascapes of County Down. He also transplants this feeling for place to his other two territories, Pembrokeshire in West Wales (where he lived in the 1980's) and Normandy in France, where he has been based since 1988. James regularly travels between all three locations.