September 2025
Compelled to chronicle the life and world around her, Abigail Faye McBride paints with the heart of a poet. Her oil paintings and charcoal drawings bear witness to a time, person or passing glimmer of light. Abigail paints landscape, figure and still life working interchangeably with brush and palette knife.
A consummate Cape School colorist, the draftsmanship in her work is born of an academic interest in the portrait and figure. Her work blends traditional subject matter with modern design sensibilities. She is part of a new breed of perceptual painters working from direct observation be it plein air or in the studio. Her paintings are a visual diary of the rhythmic patterns that enhance our experience of the world. This grounds her work as a contemporary interpretation of genre painting.
McBride has developed a reputation as a dynamic teacher. She teaches at private studios, Anne Arundel Community College, St John’s College, selected workshops and online. She is advancing principles of visual understanding acquired from years of study.
Early national recognition by American Artist Magazine helped launch Abigail into gallery representation. Using skills gleaned as one of the founders of the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association and the Paint Annapolis plein air competition she launched Paint the Town, the first plein air event in Chesapeake City MD. Her work is featured in the 100 Plein Air Painters of the Mid-Atlantic large format book by Gary Pendleton, Shiffer Press. McBride has received recognition and awards from PSoA, OPA, AIS, Boldbrush, PleinAir Salon and more.
Abigail grew up in and around art. Her grandmother, Frances Karlsson was a watercolor painter and her mother, Cynthia McBride founded McBride Gallery and Benfield Gallery. After 2020 Abigail began taking a gradual interest in the galleries and now operates as the Gallery Director.
She is represented by the Station Gallery in Greenville Delaware; Berkley Gallery in Warrenton Virginia, Benfield Gallery and McBride Gallery in Maryland and The Egeli Gallery in Massachusetts. Abigail also shows her work in institutions and museum exhibitions. Collectors, nationally and internationally, appreciate the color, mood and elegance of her work.
