“Like the Impressionists, I seek to translate the beauty of light into multiple gradations of color and form. Plants, people and the surrounding landscape are my artistic muses.”

After an 18-year professional career in music with part-time painting and drawing, in 1985 Peggie rededicated herself to painting.  She turned her focus to vibrant portraits of children in pastel and acrylics. One of those paintings, “Shelby,” won Best of Show at the 1990 Festival of Arts in Lake Oswego, Oregon.  Two years later, standing in the middle of a peony field in Sherwood, Oregon, Peggie visualized a vase of blooms on a small table, with flower fields stretching to the horizon.  This inspiration launched a series of 40 paintings, “Flower Fields of the Willamette Valley I and II.” In 1996, the Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery accepted two oil paintings from the series, “Jewels of Spring” and “Tahiti," establishing a relationship with the gallery that continues today.

In 2004, Peggie's humorous side found an outlet in an unusual commission -- the owners of Fir Point Farms in Aurora, Oregon, asked her to paint all 42 U.S. presidents on farm-grown pumpkins. These portraits proved so popular that Peggie was featured on Portland TV news programs and in The Oregonian newspaper over several years.

Peggie's focus on the natural world has since expanded with her unique art-from-life approach to landscapes.  Peggie works on site, painting in watercolors or rich, vibrant oils to capture the peak moment of light and color.  Impressionists call this technique en plein air or "in the open air." Peggie's work reflects this glowing aesthetic, giving inspiration and joy to the viewer.