"You can get lost standing in front of a Petie Brigham painting. The colors, the way she filters light, the softness of them mingled somehow with this magnificent capturing of a complex landscape or still life. Petie describes them as “painterly realism” because, while they are about realistic things and places, they move beyond just capturing the scene. Perhaps this beyond aspect comes from the fact that she never paints from a photo; instead, she paints from memory and the layers of subtle perception that brings. She also keeps any manmade things out of her paintings, so what you get is the natural calm. Petie began painting in high school and then continued her education briefly at RPI (now VCU), then painting in New York City and then concentrated studies at the Woodstock School of Art and the Arts Student League of NY. Petie describes her process well: “I begin all my paintings loosely and abstractly in broad strokes, without any linear drawings on the canvas first. Once I have covered the canvas with my first impressions of shapes, values and color, I then begin to refine and develop only where I think it’s needed, all along considering the whole canvas rather than specific parts.” She says that every painting is an adventure in paint behavior and new discoveries. You can see her paintings locally at Lynn Atkin Custom Framing (including some very early works) and at Silver Bonsai Gallery, both in Manteo."
- excerpt from Through The Painter's Eye by Beth Storie, outerbanksthisweek.com, 6/13/23
