Jess Rice
Watercolors
www.jessrice.com


I grew up on a ranch in Montana about as far away from the art world as you can get, but fortunately I come from a family whom are very creative and always have had their hands in some sort of project from farming and gardening to quilting and painting. I enrolled in any art class I could find throughout high school and college, one of my favorites being a year of calligraphy class. 

For the past twenty years, I have been involved in the publishing world in some way or another. I started out as a press operator, first working with lead type and then moving into offset press. I hated running presses and always wanted to be the artist sitting up in the cool office creating all day long rather than being the ink-covered pressman in the basement. Thankfully, the personal computer was invented about this time and I made the transition into the then exciting new field of software development. I worked for many of the groundbreaking software companies in Seattle as a graphic artist in their user education departments. 

I have painted most of my life trying each of the mediums along the way; from oil, acrylic, pen & ink, pastel, clay, wax and watercolor. I keep going back to watercolors because they are so portable and easy to set up and tear down where ever I am apt to paint from. I’ve also been drawn to the less is more in paintings and watercolors really lend themselves to this type of design. In addition, I get pure sense of joy watching the juicy pigments explode onto the wet paper and creating their own colors and designs. You just never know what you are going to get when you start a watercolor and I like that. 

I try to paint wherever I am at, so many of my scenes use the local rivers, lakes, oceans and mountains as backdrops. 

My work has been seen and sold at these locations over the past several years: 

• Morgan Crossing Group of 10 show in South Surrey, British Columbia
• Sagebrush Art Gallery in Harlowton, Montana
• Pacific Coast Artists Show, South Surrey, British Columbia
• Friends in Art, 2008 and 2009, Ocean Park, British Columbia
• South Surrey and White Rock Art Society Group Show 2008-2009, South Surrey British Columbia
• The Bowen Island Arts Council, The Gallery at Artisan Square 2005, solo show, Bowen Island, British Columbia
• Make It Memorable, solo show, 2005, White Rock, British Columbia
• The Arts Pacific Guild, group show 1999-2001, Bowen Island British Columbia

Studio:
1523 Stayte Rd.
White Rock