Collection: Priscilla Whitlock

"I love to paint all year, throughout every season and make these paintings in and out of the studio. Winter is the most challenging on those gray and rainy days, but look hard enough to see the delicate colors and signs of life that promises to come in spring.

The sun rises a pale red in our February woods and goes down pink. Every day there are new shoots pop out of the ground, bulbs open, baby rabbits and chipmunks hop and turn backflips for pure joy. Peonies from old family gardens are so delicate it’s hard to capture in paint. These wisterias, growing down the road, climbed to the tops of the trees, reaching toward the sky. Summer is full of our bounty, and green green green. I look for blooming fields or gardens to paint, and often it is in my own yard, that changes weekly.

Our fall in Virginia has delicious scents, changing leaves and drying plants. We all share a memory of what a lake looks like, or trees in the woods, or a blooming garden. For many years I have painted on location and can see, hear, smell and feel what is around me as I work, or stand and look. We carry those memories and as an artist, I use that visual memory bank to describe to you, where I was standing, looking down on or out into that landscape. Viewpoint is important in the work and often there is a high or no horizon line. I can’t wait until the wisteria bloom again this year, or the bee balm comes up in the garden so I can paint it all over again and tell a different story."