Scotty Peek's landscape paintings usually begin from life or a photo, but often abandon the reference to freely explore abstraction and non-representation. This begins a back-and-forth, possibly working from the reference again, building, destroying, deciding what's important, what's not, until the painting, while grounded in reality, offers something beyond a direct representation. Scotty is originally from Andalusia AL, and now lives in Columbia SC, where he and his handbag-making wife work in adjoining home studios. Scotty received his MFA from the University of South Carolina and his BFA from Austin Peay State University.