Laura McRae Hitchcock likes to say she has never lived anywhere longer than 5 years. While she has lived as far west and north as Tacoma, Washington, the majority of her life has been spent roaming around the Southeast. Recently, she moved to Charleston, SC and feels as if she may finally have found her way home. She received her art degree at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta and continues to study through workshops and residencies. She was chosen for the Charlotte Mecklenburg spring Community Supported Art program, received an individual artist grant from the Arts and Science Council, and her painting, Eyes for You, and was chosen for a billboard for Charlotte ArtPop! She spent the spring of 2016 and 2017 and summer of 2020 in Ireland for artist residencies and September of 2017 in Paris. Her work is represented in private and corporate collections across the US and in Ireland and the UK. She enjoys painting en plein air, as well as working in the studio. Her popular nest paintings began as an exploration of emotions around her children leaving home and evolved into a series of what she feels are self portraits in disguise. Recently, they have again evolved into more abstract paintings featuring circles and explorations of color placement. She is proud of the fact that people consistently tell her that her work it makes them feel peaceful, calm, and happy. When it is all said and done, what better gift could one possibly wish to give others than those feelings?