Create Your First Project
Start adding your projects to your portfolio. Click on "Manage Projects" to get started
SPIKE RESS
Landscape Artist Watercolor & Oil
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS
2026 Modern Impressionist Magazine – Honorable Mention Award
2025 American Impressionist Society – Award of Excellence for Watermedia
2025 Ridgewood Art Instatute – American Artist professional League Award of Excellence
2024 Ridgewood Art Instatute – Mancuso Family Award
2023 Plein Air Painters of New Mexico – Best of Artists Members Award
2022 American Impressionist Society Annual National Exhibition - Award of Excellence
2022 American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase – Award of Excellence
2021 Utah Watercolor Society – Awarded Best of Show
2021-22 Signature member of (PAPA) Plein Air Painters fo American
2020 Plein Air Painters of New Mexico – Best of Artists Members Award
2018 American Impressionist Society Annual National Exhibition – Award of Excellence
2118 Utah Watecolor Society – Awarded Best of Show
2018 American Impressionist Society - Award of Merit
2018 Utah Watercolor Society Annual – Awarded Best of Show
2018 Solo Show “Light on the Reef” The Torrey Gallery, Torrey, Utah
2017-18 Big Horn Rendezvous, Big Horn, WY – Guest Artist
2017-18 Maynard Dixon Country, invited artist, Thunderbird Foundation, Mt. Carmel, Utah
2016 Western Federation of Watercolor Societies – Award of Merit
2014 Oil Painters of America, National Juried Exhibition
2013 Western Federation of Watercolor Societies – Award of Merit
2013-14 Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Annual Exhibition - Award of Merit
2012 Utah Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, Utah
2011-13 Maynard Dixon Country, invited artist, Thunderbird
About Spike Ress:
Born in Long Island, NY in 1948, Spike Ress had early exposure to the world of commercial art through visits to his maternal grandfather's studio at Grand Central Station. Though his Air Force family moved from place to place, these early impressions never left him. In the 1960s the Ress family transferred to Roswell, New Mexico. It was there Ress began his art career at the age of sixteen working for a local sign company. With his strong interest in art and a passion for learning he quickly gained the skills needed to advance into ever better positions in new locations, eventually becoming art director for a major sign company in Las Vegas, Nevada.In spite of success as a commercial artist, Ress felt the pull of fine art ever since he first
held a brush. Weekends and vacations were devoted to pursuit of his own artistic development, traveling with paints and camping gear to find the diverse landscapes that inspire his work. In
1978 he left commercial art to pursue painting full-time. He began with a focus on watercolor, a medium he still
finds challenging and exciting. After gaining national acclaim as a watercolor artist, Ress added oils to his
repertoire. “I find the contrast between the way one must handle the paint and brushes in oil versus watercolor
stimulates me to more creative and expressive use of both media,” Ress says. Today he works comfortably in
both media but always with a preference for landscape. He knows well, and loves the land and clear light of the
American Southwest but the challenge of new subject matter in different parts of the world is always
rejuvenating. With a wanderlust born of his transient childhood, Ress still seeks adventurous travel whenever
possible. Ress explains his approach, “No matter where I am, I try to respond with direct honesty to what is
before me. It is my aim to capture the way a scene feels, not just the way a scene looks. Whether it's the bright
light of a hot Utah desert or a misty cold day in Alaska, I hope to communicate that feeling to the viewer.”
