SHEILA Pringle started painting before most children learn to read. Says the Charleston-based artist: “I started at 3. When I was 5 my mother took me to the Corcoran School of Arts and lied about my age. I studied there until I was 15.”

Decades later, Pringle continues to practice her craft, though her path was not without obstacles. After studying and working as a landscape architect, Pringle started a family. A few years later doctors discovered a brain tumor in her frontal lobe. During recovery, Pringle returned to her passion, and found that art was a huge part of her healing process. “The first day they gave me medicine I started painting. Researchers have found that more parts of the brain are used when painting than when performing brain surgery,” she explains.

After studying with artists such as Amelia Rose Smith, Pringle soon joined Perspective Gallery. Her artwork is mainly figurative. “I enjoy painting people. I paint them as I find them, scenes from around here, mostly kids, skateboarders, surfers, swimmers, people enjoying outdoor life … It’s life in South Carolina,” she says.

View Pringle’s work on her website or in person at Perspective Gallery, located at 1055 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. in Mount Pleasant.