When artist Marcy Cook Vreeland relocated to the Texas Hill Country, she discovered a landscape that reshaped both her creative process and her connection to the Fredericksburg community.
Currently immersed in a love affair with the irises she cultivates in her artist’s garden, she continues to draw from the region’s flowers, grasses and wildflowers. These elements appear throughout her paintings, where light, texture and natural movement form a quiet celebration of place and season.
Vreeland, who holds a degree in painting from Baylor University, originally worked in floral and event design, a career that sharpened her sensitivity to color, form and arrangement. That foundation is evident in her abstract and botanical work, which captures subtle shifts in atmosphere, the suggestion of wild plants and the gentle calm of muted Hill Country afternoons. “I try to notice the small detail — a leaf’s edge, the soft bend of a stem, the way morning light filters through grasses,” she said.
Working primarily in layered acrylic and watercolor, Vreeland blends abstraction with recognizable botanical forms, creating compositions that feel both atmospheric and grounded in the natural world.
Painting also allows Vreeland to express the emotional and spiritual resonance she finds in nature. “It may be just a flower, but the way that flower makes me feel, the profoundness of seasons and the natural world, is what I'm trying to communicate in a visual language,” she explained. For Vreeland, nature is both subject and mirror, offering a way to translate internal states into color, gesture and atmosphere.
Vreeland’s work is shaped not only by the Hill Country landscape but also by a deep regard for both historical and contemporary painters. She draws inspiration from artists such as Édouard Vuillard, whose attention to intimate detail and restrained yet expressive brushwork echoes her own commitment to observing the subtleties of nature. Her connection to modern masters, including Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler, further informs her understanding of color, atmosphere and the emotive potential of expansive color fields.
These influences converge in her interpretation of the local environment, allowing her to express the terrain, flora and changing light of the region in a distinctly contemporary visual language. Her recent iris-focused series, developed from flowers grown in her own garden, reflects her ongoing exploration of intimate botanical forms and seasonal light.
Vreeland approaches each painting as an act of close listening, to the land, to memory and to the emotional residue of place. Her process begins with quiet observation, often sketching or photographing small details most people pass by. These gathered impressions form the layered, contemplative foundation of her work.
Living in Fredericksburg has also strengthened her commitment to making art accessible to the community that inspires her. While gallery representation has broadened her reach, it can create distance between artist and audience, a gap she hopes to bridge locally. Her murals at Dimona and the reimagined The Restaurant at the Albert Hotel offer immediate encounters with her work, and she values the direct relationships that grow through these efforts. Through public art and community engagement, she aims to help cultivate an art culture that feels rooted, welcoming and reflective of the region itself. Her approach centers on creating opportunities for residents and visitors to encounter art in ways that feel immediate and personal.
Beyond her studio practice, Vreeland envisions a Fredericksburg where art becomes part of everyday life — not confined to galleries, but integrated into cafés, shops and shared public environments across town. She hopes to strengthen a creative network where anyone can experience, enjoy or engage with local expression, helping the arts become a visible and valued thread in the fabric of the community.
In a region defined by live oaks, granite domes and the ever-changing rhythm of wildflowers, Vreeland’s work offers a lens tuned to softness, nuance and the quiet poetry of place. Her paintings encourage viewers to slow down — to notice the subtle sway of grass, the bloom of an iris or the shifting sky at dusk. In doing so, she reveals how the natural world can ground, inspire and connect a community.
Through her brushwork and her presence in Fredericksburg’s creative landscape, Vreeland reminds residents that a love of nature and a love of place go hand in hand. Her art becomes an invitation: To look closer, to cherish the local environment and to celebrate the artists who illuminate its beauty.
Marcy Vreeland can be found online at MarcyVreeland.com where paintings and prints are available for purchase.
Follow Marcy on Instagram @marcyvreeland
Painting also allows Vreeland to express the emotional and spiritual resonance she finds in nature.