Cecil Rice

Cecil Rice is a professional artist based in Brighton, known particularly for his watercolours of Venice, the British coast and landscape. Across more than four decades of painting, his work has explored the changing effects of light, atmosphere and colour—especially where water and architecture meet.

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"I studied Fine Art Painting at Brighton College of Art in the 1980s and have worked as a professional artist ever since. Landscape and seascape have remained central to my work, with a particular interest in light, atmosphere, water and architecture.

Watercolour was my first passion. At the age of thirteen, my father, the sculptor Sean Rice, gave me a box of artists’ colours. I found myself entering a world of extraordinary depth and beauty: the purity of the colours was hypnotic, and I was hooked. Oil painting followed, with its power, richness and texture, and in more recent years I have also enjoyed exploring the possibilities of acrylic.

My paintings have appeared on BBC Countryfile, in The Independent, on the French television programme Échappées belles, and in The Artist magazine. My work has also been the subject of two extensively illustrated books: Cecil Rice: Venice, Sunlight and Water and The Colour of Light, published by Halsgrove in 2006 and 2013.

Since the mid-1990s, I have exhibited regularly in solo and mixed exhibitions throughout the UK. These have included Gallery 27 in Cork Street, W.H. Patterson Gallery, the Royal Academy, the Battersea Art Fair, Red Dot Gallery and a number of regional galleries. My paintings are held in private collections in Britain and overseas.

In 1998 I began creating limited-edition silkscreen prints, including a number of Venetian and Italian subjects. Several of these editions sold out and the prints continue to complement my original paintings.

Each May I exhibit a selection of recent work as part of Brighton Artists Open Houses. Alongside my own studio practice, I lead painting classes, workshops and painting holidays, both in person and online. I particularly enjoy sharing the discoveries and experience that come from a lifetime of painting, while encouraging other artists to develop confidence and find their own direction."