Ann has enjoyed the blessings of earning awards with some of her paintings, and loves the honor, but more so just loves the process of seeing where the water and color take her on the paper.
Most of my work is done on 140 lb. cold press arches paper. Occasionally 300 lb. I use a variety of watercolor paints. Mainly Windsor Newton, Paul Jackson, and Daniel Smith.
I’ve loved art since I was a child. My mom always said if she could have a nickel for every box of Crayola Crayons I had, she would be rich woman. Years ago, there were pictures in magazines that advertised Art Courses that I would always draw and one time I sent it in. The company came to talk to my parents about me attending the art school which proved to be way too expensive for us at that time. I’m not even sure it was all legit, but propelled me more into art.
One Christmas as a young girl in my early teens, my sister gave me an Art kit. It was a wooden briefcase with all kinds of art supplies, mainly oil paints. That little box just seemed to empower me. I still have it today. As I got older and attended high school, instead of going to the ballgames like I said, I lied to my mother and attended an oil painting class. I was so excited to give my mom the picture and surprise her. She was surprised but, I think she would have liked it more if it wasn’t a large seascape picture in oils. Especially since we lived in a small country home smack in the middle of West Virginia.
There’s so many forms and types of art I haven’t tried, and still would like to, but have just become so partial to watercolor. The challenge of the medium and how light and airy it can be, or realistic and all the while, so diverse. The picture that changed it all in my direction of watercolor was by Albrecht Durer called ‘Young Hare’. It looked so real to me, and I couldn’t believe it was watercolor from the 1500’s. I’ve loved watercolor since. Of course, art class was my favorite in high school, and my other curricular grades weren’t the best, but fell in love with Biology because the teacher was phenomenal in her profession.
So, when I went off to college I double majored in Art and Med Tech. There were several Art Instructors at the college, but unfortunately, I had one that taught most of my beginning classes and his style of art didn’t seem to leave room for my style. After a confusing confrontation with him thinking I was someone else when I asked why my grade was so low, he gave me only a few minutes to review my work again and said he didn’t think I could draw, and I needed to get out of art. It’s amazing how impressionistic a young girl can be, even at 19 years old, but I believed it, and I got out of art and went on to get a Medical Technology Degree, then a Nursing Degree.
As fate would have it, in my early 30’s through a conversation, I was invited to a private watercolor class with 4 other women with art Instructor Mickey Hackett in Louisville, KY. The highlight of my week was that one day we would meet, and it continued for about 12 weeks. I would buy anything Mickey said was good, from paper to brushes to paints. I had a watercolor palette tray that had over 50 colors in it. Funny thing is, just like that Art kit my sister bought me, I still have that watercolor palette and believe it or not, the paints still work over 35 years later!
I know I’m not the only one that looks back and questions those decisions and choices that led them to a completely different direction then what they had intended, but nonetheless, my personal life was ever evolving. And art wasn’t paying my bills, my medical career was. However, after 18 years in medicine, I switched Careers going into sales. I became quite successful in sales over the 28 years, but to maintain the success, it requires commitment and time. And there was none for art.
So, here I am today, finally, over 35 years later dabbling with the watercolors again. It’s like starting all over at times. So much still to learn. I think I’d be a much better artist if I had stuck with it, but,…. the old watercolors still work, and so the old artist is finally trying her hand at it again.
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