About + CONTACT
My en plein air paintings can be found at the Simpatico Galleries in Charleston, SC.
Commissions and other inquiries: hi@giselleharrington.com
About commissions: I regularly accept commissions for portraits of people, houses and landscapes. I also take on the occasional book cover illustration project. If you have a project in mind, feel free to call or email to discuss it further. I welcomes your questions!
Click here for my CV.
Follow me on my Instagram and Facebook for updates on workshops, my latest paintings, and more.
About my work:
I am an award winning watercolor painter and illustrator. Most of my painting is directly observational, completed en plein air in one sitting. I am interested in regional cultures and the unique characteristics of specific places, and I explore areas I come across on trips or near where I am currently living. My illustration work is typically book covers and book interior illustrations for middle grade and niche art books.
Click on the image below to watch my March 2026 interview with Fox 24 Charleston.
My story:
At Trinity College in Hartford, CT I decided not to study art because it was too personal to me, and I wanted to use the time to try everything else. I studied chemistry, calculus, archaeology and double majored in History and Middle Eastern Studies with a minor in Arabic. After college I arranged a trip to the West Bank of Palestine and Egypt for a few months each, volunteering. When I returned to the States I spent a few years in New York City, first working for Catholic Charities Office of Refugee Resettlement and then working for a non profit supportive housing agency that provided housing and support services for New York City’s homeless. At that time, though I was very interested in and moved by the stories of the people I met through these experiences, I realized that the most natural way for me to contribute in this life would be to record through my art what I heard and saw in the world around me.
I moved to Charleston, SC where my sister and grandparents were, and stayed for a couple years, honing my skills and taking commissioned work. My grandmother had grown up in Charleston, and though she and my grandfather bought a farm in Western Massachusetts, she had her childhood home on Tradd Street in Charleston, and she and my grandfather returned there later in life.
In 2016 I decided to pursue my MFA in illustration, got accepted at the School of Visual Arts, and went back to New York City. In graduate school I got an inside look into the illustration world in a city known for art and design, from world-acclaimed illustrators who were visiting lecturers and faculty members of the program. I also supplemented my classes with a watercolor painting class at the Art Students League of New York with Timothy Clark, and a figure drawing class at the School of Visual Arts with Stephen Gaffney. With supplemental studies, and the faculty of the School of Visual Arts’ Illustration as Visual Essay MFA program, I benefitted from the expertise of brilliant and highly qualified visual arts instructors.
Today I continue to work in illustration, accept commissions and teach, but I also paint every day from life (landscapes, city-scapes, people) in watercolor. In recent years I have won awards and have had my work in shows in galleries and art centers along the east coast. My work is permanently housed in Simpatico Gallery in Charleston, SC. I travel between Charleston and Western Massachusetts every few months to teach workshops in both places and paint the unique scenes there and along the road.
