Artist, Peggy Anderson, was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She lived on Brays Island, a working plantation, until age 12 when her family moved to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. After high school, Peggy graduated from nursing school and worked in a local hospital in pediatrics. Although she has never had any formal instruction in art, Peggy’s artistic talents were apparent from an early age. In 1995, she painted a mural in a pediatric dental office where she had begun working as a dental assistant. While there, Peggy painted a mural in every room in the office. Encouraged by her husband, she left her job in 2000 and began painting murals full time. Since then, she has painted more than one hundred murals. These can be found in numerous places of business including doctors’ offices, the Harrisonburg Rockingham Free Clinic, Asbury United Methodist Church as well as many residences in Harrisonburg and the surrounding counties.

In addition, Peggy began freelancing for LDA Creations at Silver Lake Mill in Dayton, Virginia, where much of her work is on display in the gift shop. Her work has been selected to appear on LDA Creations’ commemorative series “Christmas in the Valley” beginning in 2003 with “Christmas Eve at the Mill”, 2004 “Old-Fashioned Christmas Eve”, 2005 “Glens Fair Price Store”, 2006 “Sunday Morning”, 2007 “Silent Night”, 2008 "Holiday Homecoming" and in 2009 "After the Snow". The “Christmas Eve at the Mill” painting also appeared on the cover of the January 2004 issue of the Shenandoah Valley magazine. She also painted vintage Santas and a series of rare breed roosters that were used exclusively on Colonial Williamsburg plate and mug sets. In 2006 Peggy had the honor of being a featured artist in the December issue of “Blue Ridge Country” magazine.

Peggy no longer paints murals, but spends her days painting in her Cider Mill Gallery located in Mt. Sidney, VA. Her medium of choice is acrylic on canvas. She has a wide range of subjects and paints whatever interests her as well as commissioned pieces. Peggy’s works depict elements of ordinary daily life and her eye for detail is captured in her realistic style. She likes to work both from real life as well as from photographs that can be taken back to the studio and painted as time allows. Her work is available in limited-edition prints that are signed and numbered, open edition prints, originals and note cards. Peggy is an avid supporter of WVPT public television and donates original paintings and many of her prints for their auctions. Her paintings “Iris” in 2004, “Meem’s Bottom Covered Bridge” in 2006 and “The Wharf” in 2007 won the People’s Choice Award in the WVPT Impressions Fine Art Auctions. Also a supporter of The Reading Road Show, Peggy is the creator and illustrator of the Gus Bus logo and the cover of their activity book “Wheels of Learning Turning.”