Graciela Giles

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Graciela Giles

by Graciela Giles

Fire in the Sky

Graciela’s love of art, as well as music, blossomed early and the two have always formed a creative duet in her life. Her love of the natural world is readily apparent in her watercolors and musical descriptions of paintings and people.

The artist’s award winning paintings have been selected for numerous juried and invitational exhibitions and her work is in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Jamaica and Argentina.

Graciela teaches watercolor classes at the Ringling School of Art, Continuing Education, Art Center Manatee, the Venice Art Center and at her studio in the Village of the Arts, Bradenton, Florida. Her teaching experience includes workshops in North Carolina, Jamaica and Florida.

In addition to painting and teaching, she gives piano, flute and vocal performances during which she captures the essence of visual art through music.

Artists statement: I love Florida! - The beaches, marshes, and meandering rivers and creeks, huge puffy clouds so low they seem to touch the ground, spectacular sunsets that, night after night, are never the same. Palm fronds sway in gentle breezes creating the loveliest of sounds, and brilliant bougainvillea blossoms peek around old wooden fences ...but Florida is changing. Quaint old “cracker” houses are being replaced with modern, new structures, and the lush green land is giving way to big residential and commercial developments, altering the very aspects that have given Florida its unique character and flavor. I’m painting as fast as I can to capture this “old Florida,” this Florida I love, before it disappears and is gone forever.