Loretta Pressley

Philadelphia native Loretta Pressley doesn’t see the world the same way since she moved to McIntosh County, Georgia – her husband’s hometown – and learned to paint.

“I was never aware of my surroundings before I started painting,” she said. “I used to just look at the clouds. Now I look at the clouds and think, ‘Look at those clouds!’ ”

One of her coworkers inspired her to join an art class, but a lot of her learning happens on her own.

“I like to figure out how to do things – like painting the reflections in glass – without asking the instructor,” Pressley said. She looks in art books and studies photographs to learn different techniques.