Eileen Brennan-Porter

I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the daughter of a Navy Lieutenant Commander and an Australian war bride. My mother was an artist before she married, which inspired my conviction at an early age that I too wanted to be an artist. I attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, majoring in Painting and Printmaking. Eventually I went to work at a sign company in Hyannis, Massachusetts, where I learned the art of hand lettering, silk screen, and gold leaf surface & glass gilding, which offered me a steady income. After moving back to Virginia I also continued to pursue my first love--my fine art studies--attending workshops, open studios and various classes at art schools throughout the D.C. area, such as the Art League in Alexandria. My lifelong interest in art has not been for the pursuit of recognition, or competition in an arbitrary art world, but more for the love of the work. My home now in the Shenandoah Valley with my husband Wes Porter, a renowned and respected fine artist, has provided us endless inspiration, with its expansive views of the Blue Ridge and Massanutten Mountains, the abundant wildlife, and the historic Shenandoah River. Throughout all our travels we have never found a landscape more beautiful.