Marjorie Rees has been an artist all her life. During her teen years, she and her twin sister made statues, comic characters, and animals out of clay from the bank of the creek on her parents' farm. They even created their own dolls from clay and used unraveled silk stockings to make curly hair for them.

Marjorie studied art at Willamette University and Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. She also had a home study on the graphic art procedure. She then worked as a graphic artist at Moore Business Forms, Inc. in Salem for 25 years. She worked with pen and ink and wash drawings, creating logos, phantoms for the body of forms, headings and special lettering. During those years, she displayed some of her paintings on the walls of the layout room, and as a result, people who worked there started asking her to paint portraits of their families as well as landscapes for them. In 2005, she moved to Bonners Ferry to live near her son and joined the Boundary County Artists' Association.

Her acrylic oil paintings are colorful and realistic with a decidedly western flavor. Her landscapes, running horses, eagles, farmhouses and even moose capture the essence of nature with detail and accuracy. The natural wood frames she uses complement the subjects and add the finishing touch to her artistic creations.

"I paint now for enjoyment," she said. "It used to be my livelihood, but now I like to paint occasionally just for recreation and to be part of the organization."
The Boundary County Artists' Association can be reached at 267-6496.