Caryn Smith’s abstract process is intuitive, building up layers spontaneously and dissolving and scraping back revealing parts of previous layers. She uses many tools besides a brush...squeegies, rollers, palette knives, and adds texture with different mediums. She draws her inspiration from the beauty of nature, siphoning imagery from memory creating a contemporary landscape. Serene beaches, calming seas, grassy marshes, tranquil sunrises and sunsets. Her impressionistic landscapes and architecture are colorful and painterly. She paints en plein air and from photos capturing the beauty of the Lowcountry and places she has traveled.
She studied interior design at Ole Miss and Ray College of Design in Chicago and worked as a residential interior designer in Chicago and Charleston for 15 years before transitioning to painting full time. She studied painting with many notable artists such as John Doyle, Rhett Thurman, Camille Przwodik, Rick Nelson, Emmy Bronson, Laurie Meyer, and Billy O'Donnell and Scottsdale Artist School. She works with the film industry providing artwork for shows and movies filmed in Charleston including Outer Banks, Righteous Gemstones, Halloween, Southern Charm, Army Wives, Identity, and South of Hell and Inspectors and various commercials like Google and Keurig. Her work was mentioned by New York Times best seller Dorothy Benton Frank in novel "Return to Sullivans Island". She has exhibited at Piccolo Spoleto Juried Outdoor Art Exhibition for 10 years, displayed her art at galleries like Southeastern Galleries and Eye Level Art, group and pop-up shows, restaurants like Atlanticville, works with interior designers and works directly with collectors. She has donated paintings to silent auction fundraisers for many causes like The American Heart Association, The Cancer Assn, The Alzheimer's Assn, Lowcountry Marine Mammal Assn. She welcomes commissions and can work in any size and style. Her work is in private collections throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.