Peter Pettegrew has devoted his life to capturing the timeless beauty of the natural landscape on canvas. As a youth, his world was centered in Monterey Bay, California, and it was here that his compelling encounters with the ocean inspired sketches. As early as four years of age, his aunt, who was a painter, recognized his talent and insisted that he only be given blank paper; no coloring books. Childhood sketches symbolized the sights and sensations of ocean landscapes, and soon more serious efforts resulted as he turned to painting. By ten years of age, the artist was already studying with one of the older marine painters in the Bay Area.

His formal art education began when he applied and qualified for admission to Harbor Senior High in Santa Cruz, California, a prestigious and progressive school dedicated to advancing the development of artistic skills and creative freedom. After moving to Florida, Pettegrew went on to attend the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, where he studied painting as well as graphic art techniques that he now employs in his work with hand-pulled serigraphs, stone lithographs, and originals. After his formal education, he furthered his schooling in individual mediums through private artist workshops, including oil painting, watercolor techniques and charcoal drawing. Finding his inspiration through detailed research of the Master Impressionists and plein air painters of the 19th Century, this work revealed the undeniable course for his life.