I was born 80 years ago in Newark, New Jersey. When I was in High School, one summer I had a job at the Newark Public Library. It was there, in the room full of art books that I fell in love with painting. Every lunch hour I would spend leafing through the large books and learned all about art and artists in the past.

I went to Dartmouth College and took a painting course with a young Frank Stella, who was the artist in residence. That was the last course in painting that I ever took. You can see what I painted back then on the wall here titled “NUMBER 1”.  I did not paint again until I moved to Sun City four years ago.

Then, I started painting again after almost 60 years.

I am self-taught. I have painted many different subjects and styles, as you can see.

I show in SOBA and The Frederick Galleries in Spring Lake, New Jersey.

Although a native of Massachusetts, Pegi has spent most of her life in the Upstate of South Carolina.  She relocated to Sun City nine years ago and enjoys being near one of her favorite painting subjects, the Carolina coast with its marshes and beaches.

Pegi began painting many years ago when she enrolled in an oil/acrylic class at Greenville Tech hoping that it would be helpful with craft painting for her church bazaar.  It accomplished the immediate goal and was the beginning of her love of oil, acrylic and watercolor painting.

Almost as much as Pegi loves to paint, she loves to travel, and attending workshops has allowed her to visit to some pretty special places.  Workshop locations include California, New Mexico, Maine, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, France, Greece and Peru.  She traveled to Newfoundland as an Artist-in-Residence for the month of June 2005.  This fall she will be returning to Italy for the Venice Bienalle.

These workshops and many others closer to home have allowed her to study with a number of well-known artists – Stephen Quiller, Tony Couch, Frank Webb, Cheng Kee Chee, Tom Lynch, Eric Weigardt, Margaret Martin, Judy Morris, Betty Carr, Charles Reid, and Alvaro Castagnet .  She has also studied with some of South Carolina’s best known artists including Jo Ann Taylor and Julia Peters, Tom Flowers and Bill Jameson.

Pegi was a member of the Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville for several years prior to her move Bluffton.  She participated in Open Studios sponsored by the Metropolitan Arts Council of Greenville and was chosen to participate in the South Carolina State Parks Artist Residency program.  Her work has been shown in various Upstate Visual Arts and Monday Night Painters venues as well as The Greenville Blood Connection.  Her paintings are in collections throughout the southeast United States and England.

When not attending workshops or other art venues, she enjoys traveling to visit her two daughters and their families in Virginia and Ohio.

As an artist, my desire is to touch and engage others emotions with my own, in a united moment in time.

My Father was an illustrator and painter. The smell, feel, and beauty of creating with oil paint influenced my world growing up. I studied under various artists over a lifetime. Retiring from a banking career, my focus returned to my true passion, oil painting.

I use a library of photographs that are studied and referenced for guidance on creating movement, mood, light, and image reflections. My first love is the water. I become entranced when painting the movement of the sea and sand. The dashes of color within a marsh water reflection along with the ever changing mood of the sky are a constant source of joy and inspiration. Painting is an emotional and creative force that I use to interpret the majesty and subtleties found in nature and in the world around me. By using brushes, palette knives, paper towels, and fingers, I strive to balance quick, strong strokes with fine and at times delicate detail.