Born in North Dakota, Mary Jo Yales began her watercolor painting a little "later-in-life".  The inspiration of instructors nourished the development of Ms. Yales's style.  Early in her training, an instructor taught her the importance of light and dark values in painting to creating a dramatic effect, her work has evolved into what she terms “good feeling/color and value” paintings.  The art of painting transparent watercolor is accomplished by working the design to allow the white of the paper to show as part of the image.

Ms. Yales worked as coordinator for the community art gallery at a local college in south Florida for nearly five years while also serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Gold Coast Watercolor Society. She continued her volunteer work in the Ft. Lauderdale area, forming the Artists’ Roundtable (a collaboration with representatives of the watercolor and mixed media art guilds).

Nine years ago, Mary Jo moved to Georgia, she joined the Arts Alliance of Georgia, Inc., the Cherokee County Arts Council and the Roswell Fine Arts Alliance. She continues her affiliation with the Gold Coast Watercolor Society, in Ft. Lauderdale, the Florida Watercolor Society, and is an active member of the Georgia Watercolor Society.  In 2002, she served as Second Vice President of the Georgia Watercolor Society and spearheaded its National Show in Douglasville.  Her painting titled: “Our Little Flower Child” was juried into the Georgia Watercolor Society XXV National Exhibition held in Athens, GA, May 2004. She won Second Place in the Roswell Fine Arts Alliance Juried Genesis XI Show in November 2004 with her painting titled: "People Watching People". She is currently a member of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America.

Mary Jo was recently featured on the  front page of the "Cherokee Tribune", Lifestyle section in an article titled: "Painter of Life" (July 25, 2007).

The artist's true-to-life subjects have included florals, whales, dolphins, birds and people. A number of her pieces have been accepted into local and national competition.  She has reproduced several pieces as signed and numbered, limited edition Giclée prints such as the ones shown on the Gallery Page.  Giclée (pronounced jeek-lay) is a reproduction process that has come with the advancement of technology and is becoming a standard in the art industry. The process takes the art work through a scanning method, the image is then color corrected (according to the original) and the fine art printing is done by spraying the colors onto canvas or archival watercolor paper. The images are nearly identical to the original work. The artist offers these giclées unframed and uses sturdy packaging for shipment. The giclée prints can be produced on watercolor paper, mat or glossy canvas, silk or leather. Please contact the artist for further information.