For a long time, we have eyed the work of Peggy Everett, a landscape artist whose paintings of land, sea and sky are luminous and hauntingly beautiful.An experienced “Plein Air” artist, Everett captures the instant light that bounces off her subjects in a golden glow, effusing her paintings with warmth and emotion.
This Atlanta native began her formal art training at age fifteen under the tutelage of the well-known Russian portrait painters, Constantin and Marc Chatov.She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in psychology and spent the early part of her career as a social worker and mother, painting portraits on the side.She admired the work of Russian impressionists, and yearned to paint outdoors and play with the effects of light on the natural landscape.
For a time, Everett lived in Colorado, where she owned a ranch and juggled several different businesses all at once.She sold hay and alfalfa, boarded horses, operated an organic nursery and painted.When she realized that painting was the most profitable and enjoyable part of her business, she decided to devote all her time to it, eventually moving back East and settling on the picturesque coast of Georgia, where the focus of her landscapes were the oak trees, marshes and ocean scenes and their exquisite treatment of light.
“The light changes about every 15 seconds so I like to bring the work into the studio and use my field studies to get an accurate representation of the mood or emotion of the scene.This is something you really have to work at.I paint every single day and it has been a part of my life for more than 20 years.”
Everett’s work has been well chronicled in several leading publications, most recently including American Art Collector(December 2006) and Southern Distinction Magazine (January 2007).Part of our delay in getting to work with this artist is that demands for her work have far exceeded her capacity to produce.In fact, she is just completing a commission of 40 paintings for the Lodge at Sea Island’s Cloister hotel.We are so proud and delighted that patience has paid off and that we are finally able to offer the remarkable work of Peggy Everett at Huff Harrington.
