ABOUT THE ARTIST
"My higher purpose as an artist is to enhance my personal connection to nature, make meaningful connections with people, and help connect people more deeply with nature through my art. I hope when you hang my artwork in your home it will remind you of your own time spent outdoors whenever you look at it.”

ARTIST'S STORY
Jamie Wilke is a Colorado landscape and wildlife artist. She thrives on the varied natural beauty where she lives in the small foothills town of Palmer Lake, Colorado. Jamie paints mainly in watercolor and oil, and she gets her art inspiration while running and hiking in the mountains, cross country skiing and gardening.
Jamie supports conservation by donating a portion of her fine art sales to plant trees in national forests. Her mission is to help protect the forests, landscapes and animals that she loves to paint. Learn more at www.JamieWilke.com/plant-a-tree/.
Jamie’s goal as an artist is to capture nature’s inspiring moments and share them with others in her paintings. Her hope is that when people look at her artwork, they will be reminded of their own time spent outdoors. She wants people to get that feeling of joy and peace that she experiences while immersed in nature.
Wilke’s higher purpose as an artist is to enhance her personal connection to nature, make meaningful connections with people, and to help connect people with nature through her art.
Jamie Wilke’s artwork is impressionistic. She wants her art to be beautiful and peaceful, but also energetic and alive. She loves to make paintings that look realistic from a distance but abstract close-up. When she paints she strives to add a lot of excitement in addition to what she initially sees. She does this by deeply connecting with the subject matter and then using composition, value, color and depth to tell the story of what she sees and how she connects with it. Wilke allows herself to paint freely and loosely so that she paints only what speaks strongly to her when she puts her brush and paint on the canvas or paper. She feels that this natural enthusiasm that happens to her while she’s painting is what makes her work truly inspiring and powerful to those that view it.
Wilke grew up in the dairy farming countryside near Appleton, Wisconsin. When she wasn’t playing sports or recreating outside, she was drawing on paper and painting animals on rocks every chance she could get.
Jamie’s art training consisted of attending 4-H art workshops and competing at the Outagamie County Fair. She also took one watercolor class in college “just for fun” from watercolorist Mary Ann Beckwith while earning her Scientific & Technical Communication degree (Bachelor of Science) from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan.


After college, Jamie moved to Colorado Springs, CO, designed websites for a living and started a family. When she turned 38, she took her first private art lesson and remembered that creating art was her original and true passion. Jamie made the career change and now works in watercolor and oil . She is thrilled to be creating art regularly and learning from other artists. Jamie welcomes online orders and actively accepts commissioned art requests.
In her free time, Jamie enjoys spending time with her family and friends and being outside running, hiking, camping, skiing and gardening. She is a mid-distance trail runner and is proud to have completed the very vertical half-marathon race, the “Pikes Peak Ascent“, five times. She is an organizer and long term member of a local running club in Palmer Lake, the Palmer Divide Run Club, and she also plays recreational indoor volleyball. She spends many weekends watching her two teenage children play competitive volleyball.
memberships
American Watercolor Society (AWS) – Associate Member since 2023
Palmer Lake Art Group – Artist Member since 2020
Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts – Artist Member: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022
JURIED SHOWS & EVENTS
- Palmer Lake Art Group: Winter Show – Palmer Lake, CO – 2023, 2022, 2020
- Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts: Member Art Show – Palmer Lake, CO – 2022, 2018, 2017, 2016
- Palmer Lake Art Group: Small Works Show – Monument, CO – 2022
- Palmer Lake Wine Festival: Artist Vendor – Palmer Lake, CO – 2022, 2021
- Bella Art & Frame: July Featured Artist (Solo Show) – Monument, CO – 2022
- Palmer Lake Art Group: Color Splash Show – Palmer Lake, CO – 2021, 2020
- Center for the Arts Evergreen: Wonders of Winter Exhibition – Evergreen, CO – 2020/21
publication FEATURES & press
Fox21 Morning News in Colorado Springs – Artist Feature on April 18th, 2023:
“Monument artist creates the beauty of Colorado; Lives dream”
Palmer Lake Historical Society – Annual Calendar: Inside Cover – Palmer Lake, CO – 2022
FORMAL EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science Degree in Scientific & Technical Communication
at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. 1996-2000.
PROFESSIONAL ARTIST TRAINING
Private LESSONS
Carol Artis – Charcoal, Watercolor, Oil
group workshops & CLASSES
Watercolor Painting
David Rankin
Larry Haught
Al Duhaime
Robert Gray
Mary Ann Beckwith
Oil Painting
Larissa Gendernalik
John DeFrancesco
Phil Lear