Born in 1956, Stevenson studied Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art under the tuition of James Robertson and Barbara Rae.  Following her graduation in 1978 she then completed a post-graduate teaching certificate.  She taught art for a number of years; this lead to her opening her own studio and gallery in Hertfordshire, organising exhibitions and painting workshops.  Jackie now lives in the North East of England where she enjoys the open spaces of the Northumberland countryside and coast.  It is this dramatic landscape with the panoramic views that provide the inspiration for her pictures charged with atmosphere.

She has exhibited extensively in galleries across the UK, including the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour in London. She has exhibited a number of times with her father, Richard Stevenson, also a graduate of the Glasgow School.

Jackie uses the landscape and the changing effects of light and weather as a starting point for her compositions working with mixed media and collage developing a response to the atmosphere and texture of the landscape, that suggests a place and time rather than purely representing one place.