An artist's studio with painting supplies on a worktable, framed artworks on the wall, and a large painting of flowers on an easel.
An artist's studio with painting supplies on a worktable, framed artworks on the wall, and a large painting of flowers on an easel.

About the Artist

The artist Christine Mercer-Vernon smiling and holding paintbrushes in front of her face in an art studio with vases of flowers and paintings of flowers in the background.

Christine Mercer-Vernon is an award-winning representational oil painter based in south central Pennsylvania. Her paintings begin with quiet observation, growing into conversations with nature that explore memory, renewal, and the narratives that unfold over time.

Time spent in the garden informs her paintings with a deep understanding of flowers, the insects and pollinators that visit them, and the relationships between them. She paints flowers from her own pollinator-friendly garden, focusing on native and locally grown plants. Drawn in graphite, insects become quiet environmental subtext—woven into the narrative as a reminder of the fragile future of pollinators.

Painting flowers from life, she builds each composition one stem at a time using the harmonic armature as a quiet framework for structure and balance. By observing each flower through its blooming cycle—from bud to bloom and eventual seed—her paintings gather moments separated by weeks or months into a single composition, allowing each narrative to reveal itself over time.

Christine’s paintings have been exhibited in galleries and exhibitions throughout the eastern United States. A signature member of American Women Artists, she’s exhibited in multiple museum exhibitions across the country. Her work has been published in Fine Art Connoisseur, Realism Today, Balance Magazine, Scientific American, and many other news media publications.

In addition to her florals, she has spent over twenty years studying animal skulls and bones from life and documenting them through drawing and painting. Her signature bone palette utilizes three unique colors to create a limited range of grays that replicate the nuanced color of naturally aged bone.

Through the quiet observation of flowers and bones, Christine explores memory, impermanence, hope, and renewal. Her work invites reflection on the stories nature holds—and what those stories quietly reveal about the human experience.

Read why she include insects and pollinators in her art

Read why she draws and paints skulls and bones

A bouquet of colorful flowers including dahlias, lilies, and chrysanthemums held outdoors with a grassy lawn and trees in the background.
pastel zinnias growing en masse in a garden, tall celosia flowers can be seen behind the zinnias.

Dahlias and zinnias from my garden.

Curriculum Vitae

American Women Artists, Signature member

A woman holding a framed artwork of white and yellow flowers with green stems, with bees and a butterfly around them, against a textured background.