[2] [3] When he was 15 years old he became a pupil at the drawing and paint school of Johan Fredrik Eckersberg in Christiania (now Oslo).

After Eckersberg's death in 1870 he studied with Julius Middelthun at Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry (Den kgl.

He followed with four years of apprenticeship (1870–1874) in Copenhagen under the supervision of landscape painter Vilhelm Kyhn at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

[4] Skredsvig was awarded the Schäffer's legacy in 1872 and received a Government sponsored travel allowance during 1876, 1877 and 1880.

In 1881, as the only Norwegian artist, he won the gold medal for his painting Une ferme à Venoix (1881) at the Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Eilif Peterssen, Kitty Kielland, Harriet Backer and Erik Werenskiold all made trips to the farm.

His written works include his autobiography Dage og Nætter blandt Kunstnere (1908) and novels Møllerens Søn (1912) and Evens hjemkomst (1916).