Jeffrey Watts, a painter of still life, figure, landscape and seascapes, works in an expressionist style similar to that of Nicolai Fechin, whom the artist admires. Watts originally planned to be a professional cyclist, but he was sidelined from that goal because of bodily injury.

He enrolled for two years at the California Art Institute in Los Angeles where Fred Fixler was an influential teacher. He also spent eight months painting in the Caribbean during the day and bartending at night, worked for two years as a freelance illustrator in Hollywood, and then studied with his father, Robert Watts, a trained illustrator who also enjoyed plein-air painting---an activity he shared with his son;.

In 1992, at the age of 22, Jeffrey Watts founded the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Encinitas, California, and he continues to run he school with his wife, Krista, who handles the publicity and business side of the operation. The school has grown to over 300 students with 8 to 10 full-time faculty including Watts, who teaches five to six classes each week and also takes classes from other instructors.

Watts has also continued his own career as an easel painter and spends much time plein-air painting, quite often setting up on a beach or local park. He looks for anything that inspires him, which may be a person or a landscape vista. For him, he does not approve of the use of photographs as he says that method "can make you develop a lazy eye". (Gilbert 54). His portraits and landscapes have been included in many shows including Arts for the Parks, where three times he has been given a top award. He is a member of the Laguna Plein-Air Painters.

Sources include:
Bonnie Gangelhoff, "Artists to Watch", Southwest Art, March 2004, p. 32
Sara Gilbert, "Jeffrey Watts: I'm Just a Guy Who Likes to Paint", Art of the West, September/October 2005, pp. 50-55