Priscilla Whitlock

The hickory trees in the woods change to a brilliant yellow in the fall. It only lasts for a short period of time as they slowly become a beautiful red rust. The woods glow.

This painting and the ones surrounding it are all from the very same locale. This is one of the close up views. You, the viewer, are standing in the middle of these weeds and wildflowers.

Everything is green in Virginia in the summer, if we don’t have a severe drought. The deep blues in the top of the painting are a glimpse into the dark woods surrounding this field. All of the blooms hadn’t opened but do in the next few days, if you look at the other summer meadows adjacent to this image.

The grasses in Virginia turn pink, the deep blues are the cast shadows, and the coreopsis is in bloom in the middle of a wildflower field.

I can look out my studio window and see anything that pops up in my garden space. This painting is an expression of the color and tall plants that bloom in the summer, when we’re lucky.

Originally inspired by Fairfield Porter’s painting, I’ve always loved these saturation of yellows and have painted many of these forsythias. To me, they represent the joy we feel with the arrival of spring; an explosion of color and shape reaching into to the blues of the sky.

30x40 The first time I saw these fields glowing pink I was driving through peanut country.

This is another vision from my front garden. The colors change during the day and throughout the seasons. In the afternoons the greens are an “icy” hot. I try to show you the energy I feel in these growing plants, populated by chipmunks, rabbits, birds, bees and an occasional garter snake.

In May these peonies are outside the studio window. Some are from my husband’s grandmother’s garden on Gildersleeve Wood in Charlottesville, where we first lived and had our children, and some from friends. His grandmother dried them and used them in arrangements. They are so delicate and fragrant.

The bee balm grows in a very small patch of garden near my studio. Some cool mornings you can look on the heads of the blooms and see a sleeping bee and I wonder if he’s had too much pollen the night before. The seedheads are left for the birds and the fall color was so striking and delicate I had to paint it. This was started in acrylic so it is mixed with oil, graphite and inks.

This was the bee balm in its glory. I took it for granted and expected it to return, but we’ve had a drought. I will encourage more growth this summer!

The National Park Service leaves swaths of unmoved areas on the Blue Ridge Parkway. They left this “Butterfly” garden in growing in the natural state so visitors could watch all of the wild life that is attracted to the thistles and use this for food. The growth is quite thick and in this painting most of the thistles were bloomed out, but I hope I represented the feeling of life in this wild patch.

Spending a childhood in the midwest, my parents would take us children to a family farm. We ran wild in the corn, rode in the wagon behind the harvester and watched grasshoppers leap out. We’d scream with delight, gather eggs, ride ponies bare back and hide with one another in the woods. When I painted this I could hear the animals walk through the dry stalks and smell the earth.

This Clary Sage grows in certain fields along the eastern coast of N.C., in sandy soil, for it’s perfume properties. Known for it’s essential oils it is more recently used in detergents and lotions. Unfortunately a chemical has recently been manufactured to replicate those properties.

This is my lake view in the winter. Our sunsets are late in the afternoon, and during the “Magic Hour” these trees on the opposite side are facing the west and turn all of these colors of pinks. The sky at this time of year is a cool green.

An abandoned house nearby has peonies that still bloom in the yard in the spring. There are also wisteria vines that have outgrown the trellis and climbed up into the trees that line the entire road.

In the early spring, take a look at your feet and see if there are any blooming grasses; there is an entire variety.

A secret garden is both an imaginary space and small actual gardens that exist.

During a long winter, I used these yellows and greens to imagine what summer would be like. This piece was painted as a series and hangs with the 30×40.

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Center Panel

30x40

My children loved to swim in the neighborhood lake. They’d race down our wooded hill and leap from a swinging rope. I can see views of the lake from my studio and watch the changes throughout the seasons.

Our little neighborhood lake is below my home/studio and I have painted those changing views of the woods and water for many years. The water reflects the sky and these soft colors invoke memories of the sunrise.

I spent a few days on the coast and always seek out water. The day was warm and the herons were fishing nearby.

In the fall and spring along there coast there are extreme high tides, aptly named “King tides”. Thankfully the weather was beautiful with no storms and the water rose above the normally low growing marsh plants giving me the opportunity to paint different layers in water.

For many years my husband took me, in his Scout boat named “Shrimp & Grits” to our favorite islands off of the coast with my BIG easel and backpack to paint the high tides. The tides would flood the interior and bring in the fish. I’d wade through the water and set up behind high dunes and watch the water rise and color the normally dry looking island. Many of these marsh paintings are painted on the very same location.

I stood at the very edge of a little pond and adjacent to me was a Great Blue Heron quietly fishing.

Look at the horizon the next time you’re at the ocean. The waves move and there is no straight line. The water and the sky are one; and it changes every minute!

My studio overlooks a lake and every season is different. This was fall and the leaves and water mixed together forming patterns. I flattened out the space and enjoy the line work and color in this piece.

If you could look off of my back deck, this would be a very “realistic” view in the fall. I’ve always loved the reflections of the sky and trees in the water.

I love the water and swimming at night is exciting; a somewhat dangerous thrill. We can’t see our feet nor what we are sharing the waters with, but the wet, the temperature, the sound and immersion is all healing.

On the south end of this island there is a small area where I can watch the tide come in and out. The grasses change color during every season. This day was hot and there were biting bugs. The clouds along the horizon were so delicate and the color was reflected in the water.

This painting was made in the winter. Imagine a wind and brilliant sun. Winter colors can be more delicate, and the low opening clouds revealed icy blue skies.

32x32

The sun is lower on the horizon in the fall and sharpens all of the reflections and softened the blues.

I stood at the edge of a large marsh that was covered in fog. As the day warmed, the fog lifted and I was painting as fast as possible.

This was painted as a study for a National Institute of Health commission. The larger piece is in their permanent collection. Weather phenomena is so challenging to paint. As I watched the clouds move across the sky they opened to cast a spotlight on the water. It was such a dramatic day.

Public access is so limited along much of our coastline north to south. When I was awarded this residency in Cape Cod to paint and make monotypes I searched for areas where I could stand, look and sometimes paint. This was a “creek” that filled and drained out quickly with the tides. It’s magical to watch.

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After I was awarded a residency in Northern France, I fell in love with Brittany. A few years later, I rented a little fisherman’s cottage and revisited areas all along this coast. There are miles of public parks and hiking. The sea was really this color and the heather still bloomed in the rocky paths.

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A good friend called and asked if I wanted to visit her and paint a lily pond. I could try to paint this over and over and love every minute. I often return to paint the very same view, standing in the very same space and hope I can be more successful with each trial.

The ocean was very calm, just like a lake and it was so hot with no wind. These beautiful solitary waves were rolling into shore one at a time.

30x36 Sold

This painting is a favorite because it represents all of the work I painted over the years on this lovely deserted island. I will probably not have the opportunity to paint here again, so this memory remains.

36x36 sold

This is the same favorite island, where I had to visit by boat. The tide was extremely high and the colors deep. I loved the layers of water colors mixed with all of the green vegetation covered in salt water.

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oil on board

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Oil on Board

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4x6 oil monoty[e

Watercolor monotype 10x10

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monotype oil based, 10x10”

Watercolor monotype 8x10

Monotype, with mixed media, and gold paint 8x10

8x10 oil monotype

Oil based inks 8x10

Watercolor monotype 10x10

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