Gayle Merrill

Born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Alabama and Northern Virginia, I developed a love for art as far back as I can remember. Instead of being social in school, I would just go to my room and draw and paint! My mother used to complain that I needed to go outside and make friends!!
I attended Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, and earned a bachelor's degree in fine art, with a minor in Education. While teaching Art and Art history on the high school level for ten years in Chesapeake Virginia, I painted and showed mostly watercolors at that time.
Eventually married with two sons and moving around, ended up living at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. I started painting with oils and loved the smooth thick texture of the paint and the vibrant colors. A completely different experience than with water and paint. With a studio at the lake and also a studio at our summer home in Gloucester, Virginia, I spent most of my time painting water scenes with boats.
We left the lake and moved full time to Gloucester, where my garden has become my favorite interest. I especially love spending time in the out of doors Inspired by light, and color. I hope all of my painting's express happiness, the feeling I have when I’m outside. Currently, in my garden series, I want to achieve a rhythmical play with colors and shapes interacting with each other to create a colorful garden composition, combining loose painterly strokes with a sense of realism.