Artist: Nancy Noel May
I have always loved to paint, starting with formal lessons as a young child in Hampton, VA. The coastal influences of color and scenery have been with me from the start, having grown up in a small community on the Chesapeake Bay.I continued my studies with a degree in Art Education from Towson University in 1975. My college education, along with numerous other courses and workshops, have given me a varied and exciting background in different techniques and styles of expressing myself.
I love to travel and explore new places, and I rarely go without my digital camera and sketch pad to record my experiences. Bringing these images back to my studio enables me to relive my travels through my paintings.
Moving to Wilmington, NC in 1984 brought me back to the coastal influences with which I started. The easy going style, clarity of light and color continues to be a significant reminder that I am essentially a sea-level woman.
ART ABROAD
France
I love to travel and this past April, I had the chance to visit Paris. Star Sosa, who owns Spectrum Art & Jewelry, where I work as the manager, and I had the opportunity to go to Europe for a jewelry trade show and decided to take a side trip to Paris. It was my first trip to France, but it will certainly not be my last. The sidewalk cafes were a perfect place to sit, have a cup of cappuccino and watch the world walk by, while I contemplated on how I would create my next painting. From the funky little restaurants, to the grandeur of Notre Dame...I was thrilled with it all.
Boat Pond at Luxenbourg Gardens Bistro Lepicurien
16x20 A-C 11x14 A-C
Notre Dame in the Distance Springtime in Paris
20x16 A-C 10x8 A-C
"French Lavender"
11x14 A-C
Italy
I've been fortunate to have been to Italy three times so far (have I mentioned I love to travel?), but I am always planning my next trip. The first time was to celebrate a major birthday. We traveled with friends and went to Rome, Florence and Venice. What a wonderful time we had! With one exception...I had read that wheeled luggage was a bad idea in Italy due to their many cobbled streets. A friend loaned me two backpack style suitcases and I thought I would be traveling much easier...how wrong I was! My first mistake was overfilling these suitcases and my second error in judgement was to try to run the length of the train station in Florence with 50+ pounds on my back. My husband, Russ, had the second bag on his back and still has not let me forget this episode. Let's just say that wheeled luggage is the way to go and leave it at that.
The second trip was 10 women artists for 10 days. We stayed in a charming little town in Tuscany called Greve. It was a perfect site to paint, from the village shops, the olive groves and on to a walled castle up the hill behind our hotel. Day trips out from this town gave us a very varied choice of subject matter.
The third trip was to the Amalfi Coast. I found a charming villa situated on the hillside overlooking the town of Amalfi and the Mediterranean. Our friends Debby & Fred traveled with us again and Debby and I painted every morning and then we would go exploring to other nearby towns using the buses. Trust me, you do not want to drive on these twisty-turny roads.
I'm getting better at packing for travel and plein aire painting.
Al Fresco Dining Cetara Boats
20x16 A-C 11x14 A-C
Amalfi in the Distance Montefioralle II
8x10 A-C 8x10 A-C
"Positano Terraces"
20x24 A-C
COMMISSIONED ART
I have done many commissions and it is always a joy to see the happy smiles on my clients faces when I have captured their home in a unique way. I rarely paint a scene head on, but prefer a more oblique view. It might be the back of the house instead of from the front, or the view they see when looking out. I try to make it interesting visually and create a painting that the owners can always enjoy.
Bettie and Harry's Backyard View Hanover Seaside Club-Third Floor Porch
16x 20 A-C 16x20 A-C
Outback at the Ovebeck's Barbara & Cathy's Backyard View
16x12 A-C 11x14 A-C
Nana's Porch Sloan Beach House
20x16 A-C 11x14 A-C
Maggie Brown South Lumina Ave
20x24 A-C 12x36 A-C
COASTAL
Living in coastal North Carolina gives me the opportunity to paint the ever-changing scenery around me. I cherish the time I spend walking the beach, kayaking through the waterways and biking around Wrightsville Beach looking for inspiration for my next painting. There is always something new to consider, a different look at the dunes, changing shadows on a cottage, or kids playing in the sand.
Waiting for the Waves Double Red on Banks
20x16 A-C 11x14 A-C
Red Towing Gray Three at Rest
20x16 A-C 20x24 A-C
Beach Blues Cow on the Edge
6x8 A-C 10x8 A-C
Dont Rock the Boat It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
8x6 A-C 20x24 A-C
Waiting To Launch Red Boat
14x11 A-C 20x24 A-C
Wrightsville Wave Watching Haul'n Nets
12X16 A-C 11X14 A-C
Big Purple Bucket
12x12 A-C
Click on the button below to sign up for the giclee print "Close to Home" drawing. Winners are chosen weekly.
Nancy Noel May
info@artsmartcar.com