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Writer's pictureAnnie Mason
2 min read

A change of pace, and style.

Watercolor is my medium (check a recent blog post on this topic)... CREATE. Why? I have talked about how I love pen & ink with watercolor. It might not be much of "a change of pace," but it seems to be a HUGE change in style.


This idea began when the owner of Heather a Boutique in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia, had a quick chat with me while I visited her shop. Heather wondered whether some of the iconic sites in this historic district could be the subject of some of my greeting cards.


The thought stayed in my head for months, pushed back by the strange intervention of Covid-19. Heather's shop was one of so many in Fredericksburg that needed to shut its doors in mid-March and continued to do so into the summer months. Like many shop owners, she had to devise creative ways of selling her wares remotely, by phone, email, and by appointment. It's been very hard on the independent shops.





Now to my revelation: Why not just pick a place, take a picture, pick a pen, and start?


The result is quite striking, at least to my eye. Architecture has never been my strong suit. The curves of flowers and birds keep my arm loose, and accidents can be quickly adapted with some paint to the affected boo-boo.


The straight, bold, perspective lines of buildings and facades are unforgiving. "Oops" cannot happen with a pen or ruler. Can I do this? Yes. Yes, I can.


First came the photographs. A foray down to Fredericksburg on a lovely day gave me at least three different places to dive into. I knew well enough not to do this on a Saturday afternoon. Even during the lockdown in March and April, people were bound to be out walking their dogs along the tree-lined sidewalks.




With my camera at the ready, I found parking spots (Fredericksburg is notoriously hard to park your car, and you had better beware: the local police might mark your tires and come back to boot that exact tire if you haven't moved in the allotted time frame).








Below are the results. Hold the cursor over any fifteen images for the title. Click for more information.




The jump to try my hand at architectural drawing is a change. Isn't it nice to "shake it up" sometimes? It can be scary, yet refreshing.



 

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below and purchase any book.

 

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Writer's pictureAnnie Mason
4 min read

Meet the Artist - Anne Corr



Meet the Artist. The place where I introduce YOU to an artist through a "virtual" interview via a set of questions. Let's begin.


 


Anne Corr

Nottingham, England



Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.


 

  • Who are you, and what is your background?

Hi there! My name is Anne Corr - I live in Nottingham, England which is about as far from the sea as you can get in the U.K.! Unfortunately, as I love the sea. I have a husband and grown-up children, and an adorable rescue dog - if a bit needy. I enjoy living at home because for fifteen years we lived a two-county existence which demanded a lot of travel.



  • What is your favorite medium?

That is tricky - I move in and out but currently, I enjoy working from the pc and designing surface pattern design. I use Photoshop a lot and work with both photographs and images from past masters.


I have a strange condition called aphantasia which means I have no means of visualizing -- so my memory is non-visual too. I cannot recall people's faces (even my son's!) or places that I have been. I rely on what I see around me to create. (It can be difficult for others

to get used to. I live very much in the present as I don't recall a great deal). I used to paint much more than I do now. I may get back to that, but when I worked away from home I became interested in using images digitally for ease of workflow, as much as anything.






  • Has your practice changed over time?

I change constantly. I have a great love of literature and words, so those infiltrate what I do (see my blog to believe me!), I create handmade books that reflect my curiosity in literature, the arts, and nature. I love the physicality of making my handmade books, playing with creating new covers, new end pages, new wraps -- my handmade work is not particularly lucrative as is very time-consuming -- but the rewards are fantastic --it grounds me and creates reflective, thinking-time.



  • What do you most enjoy painting?

I love the natural world, particularly botanical illustration. I love going back to art history

and reworking it for more contemporary decoration. I also enjoy painting from my own

photography. This is a direction that I am attracted to at the moment. I created some digital paintings from a holiday in Cornwall that I enjoyed, and I spend a lot of time in Scotland because of the landscape there. [see fineartamerica.com ]




  • What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

I started my working life very early, at 14 (spare time) in a sweet shop! I spent time in retail jewellery, then a management training course at M&S -- it wasn't for me. I worked in a printed packaging company for about 13 years before I had children. It connected me to a love of graphics.


  • What food, drink, or song inspires you?


Wine, wine, and more wine!! I will interrupt it with a cheese break now and again - whilst listening to the Waterboys or Van Morrison! The Waterboys are my go-to when I am working at the p.c.


  • What has been your favorite response to your work?


Being told I am a 'Renaissance woman'!!!


I am often really moved when I read messages from my customers, particularly from [modestly] Etsy. My books get wonderful responses, and it makes my world very much more connected when someone tells me that my work has had particular meaning for them. It is the fuel to my creating more.











 

  • Professionally, what is your goal?

To improve. I constantly want to create better, both in my hand-crafted books and in my surface pattern designs. I look to new outlets, and wonderfully have started to sell limited edition prints locally, as well as moving into fabric design at Spoonflower - Designs by anipani



  • What's your best piece of advice for someone who wants to get started as an artist?

Play...try anything that sparks an interest in you, and practice a lot! There will be frustration involved in making anything, but the process itself brings rewards. It is a wonderful way of living a meaningful life. Failure is part of the process - and only helps you learn more.



 

Thank you, Anne. Your artwork is just wonderful. I am sure that you will have many new visitors to your sites.


For more of Anne's work here are her links:

Displate: collections



 

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Clicking any link

below and purchasing this product will be an Amazon commission

for me but will have no cost to you.



If interested in "Aphantasia" here are some books/audio that pertains to this condition:


by Alan Kendle, Peter Baker. Audible Audiobook


by Josh Windrow. Paperback




Thank you for visiting this "Meet the Artist" blog post. Thank you, Anne Corr, for sharing your background and artwork with my visitors.


visit all the MEET THE ARTIST posts


 

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Writer's pictureAnnie Mason
3 min read

CREATE. Why?



Watching the many web pages, platforms, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, and other internet places where artists share their creativity is fascinating. When the pandemic hit in early March 2020, I experienced mixed emotions: What will I do? How will this affect my family and me? Whoa...I'll have much more time in my studio.






As the weeks went on, however, I would go into my art studio and find that I would wander around, pick up brushes, find something needing to be moved around, and end up doing nothing. The rest of the day was spent caring for family needs. I often check into Facebook groups (mostly art-related), especially when a notification catches my attention. Two Facebook groups that I belong to, All Animal Watercolors and Women Artists & their Art


I found it fascinating that so many were experiencing a lack of motivation or inspiration, which I was feeling.



Not much had changed. Start and stop. My creative juices were dried up like rotten tomatoes.


Soon, I let whatever was going to happen happen. Personal family issues had taken a lot of attention, and I knew this was another factor in my lack of inspiration and creative momentum.


Where does creativity come from? Why?


Sometimes, it comes from the natural progression of events: Over the last several years, I have set aside the illustrations I did for a book authored by Dr. Bertice Berry. I know how swamped she is...and I am very patient. We both share a "right time, right place" mentality. So this book is going to happen. Why not get it back on its course? I was unhappy with some of the pages...and over the years, I had honed my painting skills, and my confidence had grown. I went through and revised all 24 pages of illustrations to my satisfaction. This book is back on track and will be a real success.


My dearest friend called upon me to paint the canvas seat on a Director's chair for her grandson. I {sighed} because I worried the course canvas fabric and watercolor would not work on this project. I would be using acrylics (not my favorite choice). The design that my friend wanted was a "baseball theme" to match his bedroom décor. I love baseball (Go, Nats!), so this was good.


It turned out that doing something with paint that is not the norm and having the joy of making this for my dearest friend (who lost her husband not long ago) brought "creativity" back into my heart.

Is that where it lies?


CREATE. "Keep Creating Like No One's

Watching."



Creativity is fluid. It sits just below the skin. It simmers and perks while not brewed before its time.



It's spontaneous and cognitive, deliberate yet emotional, and, most of all, unexpected and unanticipated.


Why? Why not? We are all creative in many ways. Maybe no one's watching, or maybe someone is watching over us.





 

Addendum:

Flash forward to 2024. I have a new art studio in our new home. It's a pleasure to be on the ground level and not have to navigate two flights of stairs. My bones say, "Thank you."


I still question CREATIVITY. It's elusive, to be sure. Maybe that's the goal of every artist. The desire to forge new routes and make free and unique associations between ideas, concepts, emotions, memories, symbols, imaginative forms, objects, and words that can be developed into the most fulfilling and original artworks.



Since the original post from 2019, my portfolio has jumped to over 300 works. My style has changed. See A change of pace and style.



*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

BOOKS

by Lewis Barrett Lehrman. Hardcover.


by Jocelyn Jones. Paperback.


by Harley Brown, Lewis Barrett Lehrman. Hardcover.


by Austin Kleon. Paperback. Kindle. Hardcover.


by Martin Salisbury. Paperback.


by Lisa Gongdon, Maggi-Meg Reed (narrator). Audible Audiobook



Thank you.


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