Renee Crawford "Heading Home"

Renee Crawford was born and raised in central North Carolina and currently lives in Raleigh. Ms. Crawford received her undergraduate degree from Temple University, where she studied painting, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon in 1986 and her Law Degree from Duke University in 1996.  In 2015, she began her life-long dream of working as a full-time professional artist. Ms. Crawford paints in oil, focusing on landscapes, portraits and commissioned work.  She has studied with international Master Impressionist Jerry Fresia as well as nationally-known artists Michelle Dunaway, Howard Friedland, Dan Gerhartz, Albert Handell, John Poon, Dan Beck and Dawn Whitelaw.  Her major influences are Joaquin Sorolla, David Leffel, Richard Schmid and Charles Movalli.  Ms. Crawford is a juried member of Oil Painters of America, as well as a member of the American Impressionists Society and the Portrait Society of America.  Her work is in private collections throughout North Carolina.

“Growing up in Winston-Salem, I had the wonderful luck of being four hours from the coast and three hours from the mountains of our beautiful state.  We skied at Beech and Sugar Mountains in the winter, swam the waves at Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach in the summer, hiked the forests of the Piedmont in the fall and picnicked in the rolling foothills in the spring. I grew up with a deep love of the varied and breath-taking landscape of our state. Each painting is my effort to capture and share just a moment’s reminiscence of the wondrous colors, the exquisite design and the spectacular light I see every day living in this gorgeous place we call home - North Carolina.”