Virginia with her dog, John Singer Sargent

After receiving a BA in English from the University of Arizona, Reilly decided to become a professional artist. She sought a program which would give her a background in traditional painting, in which she could learn the techniques and methods of the Old Masters. She found such training at the Atelier Lack Studio School of Classical Drawing & Painting in Minneapolis, MN, and finished the four year program in 1993.

Reilly paints portraits, still lifes and landscapes in oil and pastel. Commissioned portrait paintings include acclaimed cancer researcher Dr. Sydney Salmon, which hangs in the Dr. Sidney Salmon Cancer Center at the University of Arizona; former UA College of Medicine Dean Dr. James Dalen, and Bruce Laumeister, founder of the Bennington Center for the Arts in Bennington, VT.

Reilly is the recipient of awards in several recent shows, including the Winsor-Newton & People’s Choice prizes in the Pastel Society of New Mexico’s National Exhibition in November 2003, as well as the Florence Prisant Award in the Pastel Society of America Show in September 2003.

She also enjoys painting the landscape “en plein air,” and was recently juried in as an Artist Member of the Tucson Plein Air Painters’ Society. Additionally, Reilly paints Western subjects, combining Western iconography and themes with classical draftsmanship and painting techniques.

She has studied portrait painting with Richard Whitney and Daniel Greene, and has taken landsape painting instruction from Matt Smith and Scott Christensen.