Emerging Artist | Scott Prior

By Bonnie Gangelfhoff


Trolley on Market Street by Scott PriorRusty tractors. A corner liquor store. An outdoor café. Southern California painter Scott Prior is attracted to subject matter that relates to everyday life. “I am just trying to catch the moment, so the viewer can feel what I am seeing,” Prior says. “I like to create little slices of life in small towns and big cities.” On a recent painting excursion to scenic Carmel, CA, he eyed a weatherworn speedboat and felt compelled to capture the image on canvas. “I sometimes paint cars and boats because I would love to own them,” he says. “They often look a little abandoned and like they just need a bit of love.”

At a Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters invitational event held in August, Prior trekked through Winter Park, CO, painting scenes that included historic buildings and tattered barns. “Dilapidated structures are fun to paint because they can turn out to be somewhat abstract,” he says.

Earlier this year, he won the Best of Show award in an annual competition for members of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association. Prior’s paintings are on view November 2-27 in a group show at Sarah Bain Gallery in Brea, CA. He also is represented by Plaza Art Gallery, San Juan Capistrano, CA; Villas & Verandas Fine Art Gallery, San Juan Capistrano, CA; and South Street Art Gallery, Easton, MD.


Featured in “Artists to Watch” November 2005