Artist Statement

My art is largely an expression of my love affair with color and is simultaneously an attempt at documenting my favorite people and places in a want to “keep” them. I am ever striving to catch the detail in a complex scene from one of my hikes, wanting to capture the way the colors felt when I was there. Often I find cameras lacking in their ability to depict the multitude of greens here in the northwest, or the subtle tones of our often grey skies. There can be so much color on a simple forest trail!

This color obsession can perhaps be best observed in my portrait and figure work. In painting a person I feel that color can express the personality, mood, and soul. With this I tend to divide my portrait/figure work into “Brights” and “Naturals”.

I care very much about detail in all of my work and feel that my pictures need to accurately depict the small expression on a loved one’s face or the varied textures on a moss-covered rock for me to be satisfied. To best capture this detail I have a preferred medium dependent on the end goal. I use acrylic washes for most “Bright” portraits, occasionally PanPastel with Prismacolor pencil for smaller works and for most “Natural” ones (which are the most requested style for commissions- I find oil to be a great medium to achieve a beautiful skin tone but it is least conducive to a deadline!). I use watercolor for many of my landscapes as I like how its fluidity works so well with organic shapes, but also will use acrylic for a tighter image with more complex detail.

Bio

Anna spent most of her childhood in the St Louis area of Missouri and there was very fortunate to have access to a great early arts education as a part of the public schools and a mom who stayed home and encouraged creativity through arts and crafts. Stylistically, the ever-present iconography of STL, a predominately Catholic city, those years have left a lasting impression on Anna and her work, specifically her portraiture . Mid school age Anna’s family moved to Oklahoma City, OK where she took as many arts classes as she could before attending the University of Central Oklahoma College of Arts and Design where she received her BFA. Anna now lives in Portland, OR with her husband Cory where they hike multiple times a week finding endless inspiration in the outdoors.

You can find me on instagram:

@mcdermott.anna