Painting for as long as she can remember, Gail sold her first wildlife painting when she was 14 years old. She and her husband, Rick (active duty with the U. S. Coast Guard) and their son, Nate, have lived on both coasts and in various places in between. With every tour, Gail found another opportunity to learn new things. While stationed in the Pacific Northwest, Gail painted full time on driftwood and was very successful, barely able to keep up with the commissions for her paintings. Another opportunity presented itself, when they moved to Maryland where she learned the art of needlepoint canvas painting from Hollis Minor. Hollis is the former owner of ‘It’s Polite to Point’, a worldwide needlepoint design and production company.
As Technical Advisor for the Annapolis Tapestries Project, Hollis knew immediately that Gail was the person to draw and paint the 3 large and thirty-six small tapestry canvases.
Gail has developed quite a portfolio – touting work for some of the world’s most famous museums (e.g. Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and even designing for a Sheik of Kuwait and the Kuwait Museum.
How did she feel, when first approached with this huge project? Looking back, Gail recalls “When asked if I would be interested, I was both thrilled and honored to be part of such an historic undertaking’. She hesitated for a moment and then said, “At the same time, I was mortified at the sheer size of the tapestries!”
To date, Gail has completed hand painted canvases for the 18th and 19th century large panels and all of the small tapestry canvases for the 18th century.
She is has completed the painted canvases for several of the smaller 19th century panels.
Annapolis Tapestries 