Biography - Biography of Derek McCrea Derek McCrea paints in a whimsical impressionistic style. He has recently completed a series of barns, lighthouses, flower and plein air landscapes in watercolor, oil and acrylic. He also has galleries devoted to his pen and ink renderings. Derek was born in Albany, Georgia on February 19, 1969. He presently resides with his wife, Sheila, of 17 years and his two sons, in Fort Stewart, GA. He first started painting with oils in the summer of 1984. From 1985 to 1986 he painted under the instruction of Jimmy Peterson, a well known artist from Georgia. In 1986 he won 1st place in the Georgia Arts Exhibition. Derek joined the United States Army in 1987 and continued self study and painting on landscape subjects in France, Holland, Germany, Italy and Hungary, painting in the plein air style. He only recently picked up the watercolor medium when his wife bought him a watercolor set on his 32nd birthday. He fell in love with the effects and quick drying time for watercolors. He won the artist of the week in August for Art Gallery Online while competing against 11 other artists. If you wish to commission a work email with the requested dimensions and an image. He has completed 10 commissions in the past year, to include several very large seascape oil paintings, golf paintings, floral paintings and Crepe Myrtles. His art was selected for the cover of The Eclipse. The Eclipse is a publication where poets write about the artwork of a selected artist once per quarter. 6 of Derek's works were selected for this publication. Derek's works can be found in Fayetteville, NC in PJ's Fine Art Gallery and the Graphic Design Firm. His works were most recently placed in B'zzzzz Expressions in Douglas, Georgia, in The Market Square Gallery in Varnville, SC, and in "Just What I Like" in Lawrenceville, GA. Derek's works were featured in LIA Life is Art Magazine for the August/September 2002 Issue, found in Books a Million and Barnes and Nobles. His last exhibition in October 2002 was at the Chateau Elan Vineyard in North Georgia. His email is dereklovessheila@yahoo.com