People who see Jeanne Rager paintings are always surprised to learn that the medium is watercolor. Her use of intense, deep and/or dark colors, in combination with exquisite detail has given her a recognizable style all her own.

Jeanne is from Illinois, but she has always had a life-long fascination with things Western... horses... cowboys... Indians... A self-taught artist, she is most widely known for the serenity of her romantic depictions of the Old West. But when her imagination isn't wandering in that direction, she paints the beauty of her own Midwestern heartland... rendering tranquil images of the rolling prairies that surround her... draft horses working the fields... cattle grazing the hills... Jeanne has always been a cowgirl at heart. Before painting took up so much of her time, she used to be an avid competitor in the rodeo sport of barrel-racing.

Upbringing: born in 1950, and raised by a preacher father and artist mother... married young, started a family early (four kids)... milked cows and worked a farm for ten years... then finally at the age of 30... she became interested in painting...

Art Education: self-taught... too poor to afford art school... attended the art section of The Public Library, graduated from The School of Hard Knocks, and is a master artist of The Trial & Error Method.