Fen Rascoe is an award-winning American Impressionist from the small town of Windsor, NC. He paints Alla Prima in oil whether in plein air or in the studio and is represented by ArtSource Fine Art in Raleigh, NC and City Art Gallery in Greenville, NC.

Rascoe grew up drawing all of the time, mostly in school during non-art classes when he should have been paying attention to the teacher. Later in high school and in college, he took formal art and oil painting classes in the 1980’s, but it wasn’t until around 2010 that he pulled his old paints and brushes back out and began painting seriously as a profession. Most of Rascoe’s work reflects the outdoor lifestyle of Eastern North Carolina where he enjoys painting on site in the marshes, swamps, farmland, and boatyard marinas of the coastal region. He also paints in the Virginia and NC Mountains during the late summer and early fall. His work has been featured at the Bascom in Highlands, NC and the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum.

So far in 2024, he has been juried into North Carolina Plein Air Festival by selection juror Shanna Kunz. In 2023, he won Honorable Mention in Va Highlands Plein Air Festival, and 3rd Place in Suffolk Plein Air Festival. His work has been featured in the 2022 North Carolina Literary Review and in 2021, Rascoe received the Honorable Mention Ribbon from AIS Signature Member Dee Beard Dean in the 2021 Edisto Plein Air Paint Out. That same year his work was featured on the Outdoor Channel’s The Obsession of Carter Andrews Episode 2 “The Impressionist”. Rascoe’s Plein Air paintings have been featured twice in Plein Air Magazine’s daily online newsletter Plein Air Today by article authors Bob Bahr and Jeanne Mackenzie. In 2015, Rascoe was selected by Selection Juror Russell Jewel to participate in 2nd Annual Piedmont Plein Air Paint Out in Highpoint, NC. That same year he was awarded 1st Place in 2015 29th Annual Landmark Show and Competition- juried by Chad Hughes, adjunct Professor of Art NC Central University. He also was awarded Best Figure / People Award – 8th Annual Kinston Plein Air Paint Out Juried Contest by Prior Year 1st Place Winner Jeremy Sams.

Awards

2023 Virginia Highlands Plein Air Festival – Honorable Mention by Juror Peggy Root

2023 Suffolk Plein Air Festival – 3rd Place by Juror Karen Kinser

2021 Annual Edisto Plein Air Paint Out – Honorable Mention Ribbon awarded by Judge Dee Beard Dean, Signature Member of American Impressionist Society and Founder of Plein Air Painters of Southeast.

2015 29th Annual Landmark Show and Competition – 1st Place, 3rd Place juried by Chad Hughes, adjunct Professor of Art NC Central University.

2015 Splash Paint Out Competition – 3rd Place, Juror Mike Rooney

2015 Selected to participate in 2nd Annual Piedmont Plein Air Paint Out September 17-20th, High Point, NC by Selection Juror, Russell Jewell

2015 Best Figure / People Award – 8th Annual Kinston Plein Air Paint Out Juried Contest by Prior Year 1st Place Winner Jeremy Sams.

2015 1st Place 2015 Bertie County Arts Council Juried Contest by Faye Edwards Davis, Gallery Director, Dare County Arts Council.

2014 Honorable Mention 2014 Annual Bertie County Arts Council Juried Contest
by Amber D Watts, Asst. Art Professor ECU School of Art

2014 Honorable Mention – 2014 28th Annual Landmark Art Competition Juried Contest by Dr. Norman Goodwin, Retired Adjunct Professor Old Dominion University and Virginia Wesleyan – Jaquelin Jenkins Gallery, Elizabeth City, NC

2013 1st Place – 2013 Annual Bertie County Arts Council Juried Contest by Sally Sutton, Professor ECU School of Art

2013 1st Place and Honorable Mention 2013 27th Annual Landmark Art Competition, Jaquelin Jenkins Gallery, Elizabeth City, NC Juried Contest by Fred Bayersdorfer, Dean of Art, Old Dominion University

Shows

2014 Plein Air Duo (partnered show with Fred Saunders) Edenton, NC 2014
2014 Fen Rascoe Solo Show, Jaquelin Jenkins Gallery, Elizabeth City NC 2014
2015 Fen Rascoe Solo Show “Raleigh to Ocracoke’ , Trinity Gallery, Raleigh NC 2015
2016 TAG Pops Up, High Point, NC
2016 Artsource Fine Art, Raleigh, NC
2016 Solo Show Beaufort Historic Commission, Beaufort NC
2017 Featured Artist 27th Annual NSA Art Show and Sale, Suffolk Va
2019 Coral Bay Summer Show with City Art Gallery, Atlantic Beach, NC
2021 Featured Artist Solo Show, The Bascom, Highlands, NC
2021 Featured Artist, Beaufort Historic Commission, Beaufort NC
2022 Coral Bay Summer Show, City Art Gallery, Atlantic Beach, NC
2023 City Art Gallery, Eastern NC Artists, Greenville NC
2024 Featured Artist Fall Show, Artsource Fine Art, Raleigh NC
2024 Featured Artist Spring Show, City Art Gallery, Greenville, NC

Articles and Film

Plein Air Today Daily Newsletter, “Why This Works:Quiet Solidness, Good Light Source Info” by Jeanne Makenzie

Plein Air Today Daily Newsletter “Parting Shot: Call it a Cowscape” by Bob Bahr

North State Journal, “In The Frame with Windsor’s Fen Rascoe”, by Dan Reeves

North Carolina Literary Review, “Ripple Effect” painting

Outdoor Channel’s The Obsession of Carter Andrews, “The Impressionist”.

The Virginia Sportsman, Featured Artist.