Having parents who appreciated art and the beauty  of nature instilled in Jim from an early age the desire  to create artwork.  The family often made trips to the  Frye Art Museum in Seattle, where Jim was exposed  to the representational interpretations of many of the  great German landscape painters of the past century.   Their use of color and the handling of light intrigued  the young artist and had a direct influence upon  his  interest in one day depicting the landscape in oil on  canvas.    In Southern  California he slowly  began to  build  his  reputation as  a freelance  illustrator,  while  taking courses  at the Art Center College of Design in  Los  Angeles.  But  Jim’s  long-held  interest  in  the  landscape  remained with him over the years,  and he  made  the  decision  to  pursue  the  painting  of  the  landscape.  Lamb’s entire illustration career was built  around  working  from  photographs,  so  the  idea  of  working from life, with all the challenges presented by  nature made him realize that he was going to have to  learn how to paint, and paint more rapidly.  It was an  awesome challenge.  He took several workshops from  leading  contemporary  landscape  painters,  which  proved to be invaluable in  his  desire  to pursue  the  direct  depiction  of  nature.

In 1991 Lamb was chosen Artist of the Year for the nationally recognized Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, South Carolina. His work was also selected for the National Birds in Art Show which traveled to Japan and can be seen in North Light's book, The Best of Wildlife Art. The US Postal Service has included Jim's work in a show at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts displaying the best of 40 years of U.S. stamp designs, and the exhibition traveled to several other museum venues in the US. He is a member of the prestigious Western Rendezvous of Art (NWR) group of artists, which holds its’ annual show in August in Helena, Montana. In 2008 Jim was awarded the merit award by his peers at the Rendezvous Show for his painting, APPROACHING THUNDER.  His work was on the cover and featured inside the May 2010 issue of Southwest Art magazine, as well as in the February 2001 issue. The February 2009 issue of Art of the West magazine also featured his work.  Lamb has exhibited, since 2001, at the historic Laguna Art Museum for it's annual Invitational Plein Air Painting Competition held each October, and has been honored with several one man shows at his California galleries.

In addition to his fine landscape paintings, Lamb's work has literally been seen around the world in the form of limited edition prints, collectible plates, greeting cards, puzzles, posters, apparel, U.S. postage stamps, sculptures, and many other forms.

Jim's landscapes are currently represented by the Dawson Cole Fine Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, Howard/Mandville Gallery, Kirkland, WA, the Morris & Whiteside Galleries, Hilton Head Island, SC, and the Zantman Galleries, Carmel, CA.  His work is collected throughout the United States.  He resides in the state of Washington with his wife, Cathy, who is a fine still life painter.  Their children, Kristi, Tim, and Lisa are on their own and are artists in their own right.