Cecil Rice studied Fine Art Painting at Brighton College of Art in the 1980s and has painted professionally ever since. His work has long focused on seascapes and landscapes, which remain his primary inspiration.
Watercolour was his first passion. Given a box of artist’s colours at the age of thirteen by his father, the sculptor Sean Rice, he was drawn into a world of mesmerising depth and beauty. The purity of the colours captivated him instantly. He was hooked. In time, he developed a deep love for oil painting, attracted by its power, richness, and texture. More recently, he has also explored the expressive potential of acrylics.
Cecil’s paintings have been featured in BBC Countryfile, The Independent newspaper, Échappées Belles for French television, The Artist magazine, and two beautifully illustrated books: Cecil Rice: Venice, Sunlight and Water and The Colour of Light (Halsgrove, 2006 and 2013). He has exhibited regularly at art galleries across the UK, and his work is widely collected.
Each May, he exhibits his original paintings as part of the Brighton Artists’ Open Houses. Since the mid-1990s, his original works have been shown in both solo and mixed exhibitions in London and beyond, including Battersea Art Fair, the Royal Academy (Work on Paper), Gallery 27 in Cork Street (solo), WH Patterson Gallery’s Venice in Peril, Red Dot Gallery in Wandsworth and Norfolk, and a range of UK city galleries such as Bell Fine Art in Winchester, Elford Fine Art in Tavistock, Blackheath Gallery in London, and Clairmonte Galleries in Brighton.
By 1998, Cecil began producing limited editions of silkscreen prints, many featuring Venetian and Italian subjects. These prints, which complement his original paintings, quickly became popular with collectors and many editions have since sold out.
Over the past decade, he has continued to exhibit new work during the Brighton Festival each May, showcasing both large and small-scale pieces. In addition to his painting practice, Cecil has led regular workshops and painting classes across the South of England and in Venice. He takes great pleasure in sharing his passion for painting with fellow artists and is always happy to demonstrate his techniques.
