No goat hill studios

My name is Jeff Watts; I’m an artist living in Forestville, California.

I’ve loved animals for my whole life and I’ve loved painting maybe longer.

So therefore it just made sense for me to put those two things together.

I’m inspired by the techniques of the old masters. My work has a “painterly quality”, one that takes advantage of the movement of the paint and the visible brush strokes.

While I strive for a sense of realism in my paintings, I always want the viewer to know they are looking at a painting.

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Why this is called No Goat Hill.

The plan was to leave San Francisco and move to the country, where we could have a few goats and some chickens.  We were going to have fresh eggs and make our own goat cheese.

We bought a house on a hillside in Sonoma County, and then I bought a book about goat farming.

Turns out those goats take a lot of work and I just don’t have time for that.

So here I am with my studio, on a hill, with no goats.

Well six years later on No Goat Hill we now have chickens…six lovely little hens, who are now laying eggs.  Check out my chicken page to see their baby portraits.