MERRIE McNair is a South Carolina native who spent childhood summers roaming the beaches and tidal waters of the Lowcountry. After graduating from Clemson, McNair moved to New York in 1982, where she attended Parsons School of Design and began using her love of color and textures to create interior spaces reflective of her clients’ lifestyles.

Having called Charleston home for more than 30 years, her expressions are now through her brushes with a style that provides that special balance between realism and impressionism. “I hope my paintings evoke the senses—a vacation, a childhood memory or a feeling that only nature can inspire,” she says.

McNair is excited to share her latest works, which reflect an array of fresh, representational abstracts mixed with her stylized Lowcountry scenes. “I’m so drawn to the incredible palette that nature offers,” she says. “And I love to capture the subtleties of light, and the way it can dance on a marsh, reflect in the shadows of palms or mirror a sunset in the quiet tidal creeks.”

McNair is a member of the Charleston and Mount Pleasant Artist Guilds. Her work can be seen online or at Perspective Gallery in Mount Pleasant.