Bio
Marjo Wilson was raised on a cattle ranch in Covelo (Round Valley), California. She has been painting and drawing the "animals" and "country scenes" all her life. Marjo graduated from Art Center, College of Design in 1989. After her training in Graphic Art, Painting and Printmaking, she returned home and resumed her deeply rooted ambition to paint the country life she grew up in. Years later, she still is painting the horses and cattle and cowboys, the dogs and pigs and chickens, the barns, the fields, the rivers, the country roads - and the life of the land.
Style & Technique:
Marjo’s favorite medium to work in is watercolor- she enjoys a quick sketchy style more than a laborious precise technique. She uses acrylic paints for her large canvas paintings- preferring the ability to layer many thin washes- reminiscent of the watercolor application that comes most naturally to her. Also known for her unique drawing style, Marjo mixes charcoal with pastels and light washes rendered on 100% cotton rag board. Her distinct appraoch combines subject matter in nature with subtle geometric abstract shapes… juxtaposing “nature’s organic lines” of animals and landscapes and people with the “sharp rigid lines” of rectangles and mathematical man-made edges. With this interplay of shape and line, Marjo is able to create a sense of depth and dimension all of her own.
She says of her unique style, “I like to try and leave something for the viewer’s imagination- sort of like looking at clouds...”
Style & Technique:
Marjo’s favorite medium to work in is watercolor- she enjoys a quick sketchy style more than a laborious precise technique. She uses acrylic paints for her large canvas paintings- preferring the ability to layer many thin washes- reminiscent of the watercolor application that comes most naturally to her. Also known for her unique drawing style, Marjo mixes charcoal with pastels and light washes rendered on 100% cotton rag board. Her distinct appraoch combines subject matter in nature with subtle geometric abstract shapes… juxtaposing “nature’s organic lines” of animals and landscapes and people with the “sharp rigid lines” of rectangles and mathematical man-made edges. With this interplay of shape and line, Marjo is able to create a sense of depth and dimension all of her own.
She says of her unique style, “I like to try and leave something for the viewer’s imagination- sort of like looking at clouds...”
Now Showing:
Marjo's recent work is currently on display at Highland Art Center & Gallery in Weaverville, CA.
2019 Highland Art Center, Juried Group Show- "Best of Works on Canvas Award."
2020 Highland Art Center, Solo Featured Show,
2020 Willits Center for the Arts, Featured Art Show,
2021 Highland Art Center, Juried Group Show- "Best of Works on Canvas Award."
1990-2021
For the past 30+ years Marjo has shown and sold her art throughout the state of California, from Rancho Santa Fe, Pasadena, to Ojai, to the Cattlemen's Association Annual Show in Paso Robles, The Grand National Rodeo Show in San Francisco Cow Palace, Horse Expo in Sacramento, to many shows throughout the years in Covelo, Willits, Mendocino, and beyond. Marjo has shown her work in New York as well as Washington State and Tennessee. Her work has been collected over the years nationally ( Californina- San Francisco, Mendocino County, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Rancho Santa Fe, Pasadena, etc... Seattle Washington, Denver, Nashville Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, Lexington Kentucky, etc..,) and internationally (Copenhagen Denmark, and England.)
Marjo has also won multiple "Best of Show" and other prestigious awards and honors throughout the years.
Marjo's work can be viewed currently on permanent display at the new Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits CA. Over recent years Marjo has had multiple shows of her work at The Willits Center for the Arts, Brickhouse Coffee in Willits, North Fork Cafe and Paperback Coffee in Covelo. Blue Sky Gallery of Willits sold much of Marjo's Art over the years and though it is now closed, it will remain a treasured memory of community supported art and sales for Marjo. She stays busy painting for upcoming shows and commissions. Marjo lives in Covelo, (Mendocino County) with her husband Morten Jensen. When not busy painting in the Art Studio- she's in the Music Studio- writing and recording her own music- another expression of her passion for the place and the people she’s from.
Check out Marjo’s Music