Jessica Hill's Gallery

Born in 1982 Jess has lived in South Devon all her life, starting painting at a very young age - art has held an unavoidable fascination for her. These days Jess is always challenging herself with new ideas and her inspiration comes from all aspects of her life, particularly music and culture.

Her grandfather, Maurice, is also a keen artist and lives not far from the family home - Jess still visits him every Monday for lunch. When Jess was very young she would sit down with her grandfather and he would teach her how to draw the basics - mostly drawing on paper but also making models with clay. When Jess was a little older she loved to go to work with her father, Carl, during weekends and school holidays - being a farrier he would travel all over the countryside giving her the perfect opportunity to study and draw horses at each stop. She especially enjoyed it when they went on the moors in the rain and she has loved the rain ever since and found it inspiring - it just makes her want to get her paints out and create something full of life and energy!

It took a lot of practice for Jess to master a drawing of the perfect horse. However this wasn’t enough for her. She was about 12 years old, full of passion for these beautiful animals, and wanted to interpret this enthusiasm into her artwork. She played around with colours in an attempt to stylize her pictures - "I wanted to enhance the unique characteristics on my paper differently to any other artist".

Jess now uses many bright colours and loves to use pallet knives - she feels that layering the paint on thick gives texture, life and movement to the canvas. "I seem to be getting bigger and bolder as I go on and each piece gives me a new idea for the next. I feel privileged to be able to paint for a living as it is something I will never stop loving to do!"