Valerie Craig
St. Davids, PA
In 1998, Craig left her career in nursing administration to pursue her passion for painting on a full-time basis. She feels that her best expressions happen when she is on location and can directly sense the mood and atmosphere of a particular scene. Whether painting vast open areas or intimate spaces, she finds that capturing light and color is best accomplished through close observation and careful study. “I feel I am most successful when my paintings evoke an emotional response in the viewer.”
In 2017, Valerie was awarded the Artists’ Choice Award in Ireland’s Art in the Open. She won the Gold Prize in Ireland’s 2013 Art in the Open. In 2016, Valerie’s painting ‘Whitewashed’ was awarded Second Prize in PleinAir magazine’s annual Plein Air Salon.
Valerie has been invited to judge national and international painting competitions, including Ireland’s Art in the Open, Floyd Plein Air, Solomons Island Plein Air and Norfolk Plein Air. Valerie has had numerous solo exhibitions and enjoys teaching landscape painting workshops in the USA and in Ireland.Valerie Craig’s honors include the Marjorie Bradley Memorial Award at the American Impressionist Society's 2018 National Juried Exhibition. Selected Awards also include:Winner of The Bold Brush Award, March, 2018Artists' Choice Award, 2017 Ireland's Art in the Open, Second Prize 2016 Plein Air Salon,Gold, Mayoral Award, Ireland's Art in the Open International Festival, 2013, Award of Distinction, American Impressionist Society National Exhibition, 2014, Grand Prize, American Women Artists' On-Line Juried Show, 2013, Second Place, Plein Air Easton, 2011, Best in Show, Wayne Plein Air, 2011, 2008
