Art is how I think, how I come alive, and how I respond to beauty and heartache. I paint in both a passionate flow of energy and in a quiet, close to meditation.

Painting is how the awe of beauty comes out. If I did not create visually, I might burst with the joy of it.

Painting is also my act of resistance to what is not right in this world. In our most challenging times, art is more needed, not less. I do not paint with an innocent naïveté. I paint because I have lived, and I know art brings hope.

I live in Greenville, SC at the edge of the Blue Ridge, and I paint mostly with oils on linen canvas. I spent fifteen years as a professional photographer before choosing to paint full time. As I am on location, I create photos to document shapes and details for later reference but I rely solely on my eyes, not a camera, to understand light, shadow, atmosphere and energy.

For years, I painted exclusively plein air—outdoors on location—immersed in the forests, creeks, and pastures along the North and South Carolina line, or sometimes on a sidewalk in town. Now I work in my studio about half the time, painting from life or from location color studies.

I paint until there is just enough left unsaid, enough mystery remaining, then I invite you to step in. A painting is not finished when I sign it. It is finished when you step in front of it and something in you answers. Then it is yours. If you bring it into your space, I hope it keeps doing the quiet work of beauty.

I was fortunate to be raised by a watercolorist mother who painted plein air and a father who sang and played several instruments. From a young age, I was immersed in both the arts and in nature. I studied with Wayne Wu as a young adult, and later with painters including Anne Blair Brown, Sarah Sedwick, David Shevlino, James Richards, and Natalia Nosyk. A teacher once told me to find a mentor whose work and character I admired, and stay. Since 2020, that has been Jim Carson, OPA, AIS.

If you want to ask about a painting, a commission, or a visit to the studio, I would like to hear from you. (Contact

Ellie