On the Tip of the Island
18 x 24 in.
Oil on linen
$2500
Available from the artist

The Florida Gulf Coast is often thought to be too hot, humid and mosquito-filled to enjoy outdoor painting, but Theresa Grillo Laird’s oil paintings contradict that impression. In works described as peaceful, genuine and dynamic, she accurately captures the mood and sense of place of her coastal environment in all its seasons. Describing her process as “engaging with the forms and features within the landscape to reveal the animated movement inherent in all of nature,” Theresa creates paintings that often invoke the comment from viewers, “I could walk right into them.”

Theresa has crisscrossed the Pensacola portion of Gulf Islands National Seashore finding inspiration in it’s dunes, marsh and coastal woods. You might find her at work among beachgoers and hikers, or see her easel balanced atop a dune in a less traveled corner of the park. On the Tip of the Island was painted on the western point of the park on a hazy August day.

“I was drawn to the line of beach foliage snaking up the dunes towards a distant gray horizon and sought to capture the hazy, yet light filled atmosphere of the summer day,” explains Theresa.

In June and July of this year, Theresa’s Gulf Coast paintings were the subject of a solo exhibition at the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope, Alabama. A larger exhibition of plein air and plein air-inspired coastal works will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur, Alabama, opening on May 7, 2019. In conjunction with both exhibits, Theresa will be teaching a plein air workshop.

Theresa is a member of and has exhibited with the Oil Painters of America and the American Impressionist Society. She paints with the Emerald Coast Painters and Plein Air Painters of Pensacola. Her paintings can be found in corporate collections, including the permanent art collection of the Federal Reserve Board Bank, and in private collections across the country. She is represented by The Studio Gallery in Grayton Beach, Florida. Her next workshop is Bayview Plein Air Workshop in Fairhope, Alabama September 28-29, 2018

See more of Theresa’s work on her website and sign up for her newsletter to be the first to know of workshops, exhibitions and new work. You can also connect with her on her blog The Passionate Palette or on Facebook.