Carrie Mae Smith grew up in New England, the daughter of a butcher. She spent many years abroad with her sketchbook in tow. She milked goats and learned to play the fiddle in Connemara, Ireland, picked grapes in the Pyrenees and the Alps, hunted wild mushrooms in the valley of the Guadarrama Mountains of Spain and learned to weave in Guatemala. While living in Spain she assisted in the renovation of a stone house and slaughtered chickens on an organic smallholding. Her passion for painting culinary treasures and landscape arose from her travels as well as working as a private chef during the summers on Martha's Vineyard.

Carrie Mae's love of historic structures and rural landscapes remain constant subjects in her work. She explores the quiet of the Amish countryside, the luminosity of Martha's Vineyard light and the texture of Iceland through sensitive use of color and simple compositions. She manages to capture mood and sense of place in both her still life and landscape paintings. Critics have described Carrie Mae's work as Painterly Realism and atmospheric. Carrie Mae Smith is represented by Etherington Fine Art, Marfa, TX and Vineyard Haven, MA. She currently lives and works on Martha's Vineyard, MA.