However, with his father's death in 1842 and his work at Barlay Mill virtually at an end, in 1846 James joined his two brothers, John and Thomas, who were living at 6 South West Circus Place in Edinburgh.
[1] James began to paint fine landscapes, miniatures, and portraits in oils and watercolours and became a regular exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy for twenty years.
About 1871 James went to Australia in order to visit his brother William, who had emigrated, and stayed at Stony Park, Brunswick, the home of Theodotus John Sumner.
His engravings of portraits became widely in demand and his first patron was John Watson Gordon who in 1850 became President of the Royal Scottish Academy and Her Majesty's Limner for Scotland.
The last engraving James Faed undertook, at the age of eighty, was a portrait of the Earl of Home, father of the future Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home.