About Anna
My Story
I was born in 1964 to parents who were both artists and art teachers and although I was rarely found without a pencil in my hand, I first wanted to be an actress.
After gaining a degree in Creative Arts (majoring in drama) in Nottingham, I realised that pursuing a career in acting would mean living in a city and that wasn't for me. I had never stopped painting and drawing and it seemed natural to concentrate on that now.
I joined an Arts Co-operative in Folkestone where in 1988 I reached the finals of Young Artist South East. Later moving to a caravan on Winchelsea Beach I incorporated found objects, driftwood and pebbles into my art and started to exhibit in Rye.
In 1990 my husbands work took us to a country cottage on Anglesey where the windswept landscape inspired large free paintings of the natural world. In 1993 Dave and I moved onto our 100 year old 29ft Cornish sailing boat and went cruising.
I had a portable easel set up in the companionway and painted my way around the British Isles and Western Europe for three years. As we travelled through France familiar gulls, gannets and guillemots that I had previously painted gave way to more exotic species like egrets, flamingoes, the white horses of the Camargue. Further south, the sculptural quality or large succulents and palms, brightly coloured hoopoes and orioles and the dramatic contrast of seasons called for a complete change of palette.
In 1996 we sailed up the Rio Guadiana, a beautiful unspoilt river that forms the border between Spain and Portugal. Here we settled.
My little wooden studio perches on the side of the hill nestling in the olive trees. I catch glimpses of the river through their branches as azure winged magpies fly past my window. Here in my small patch of paradise it's hard to imagine the crisis our natural world faces. I am extremely lucky to be able to see and sketch animals in their natural habitat, a circumstance that is ever more fragile.
