Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ann’s favorite thing to do was to color with her crayons, delighting in all the different colors available. She was chosen in fifth grade to attend Saturday art classes at Carnegie Tech. After moving to Alabama at the age of 14, drawing, coloring and painting continued to be her favorite pastimes.
     As a young adult, her mother and sister introduced her to oil painting, and she was hooked! She “played around” with it for a few years, but marriage, motherhood and a teaching job took over most of her time. She dappled with painting clothing and doing cake decorating as her three children grew up, but it was after they were grown that she began to take painting seriously.

     She is mostly self-taught, though she credits her sister, Charlotte Abernathy, with providing her training and encouragement that has kept her “fired up” to continue to learn and improve. She felt fortunate to attend the Art Students’ League in New York a few years ago, even though it was only for one month! The experience was wonderful and was a catalyst for her continuing interest in painting. Though she also does murals and decorative painting in homes and businesses in various areas of the country, she admits her true love is working with oils at the easel, especially in the plein aire setting. The media she works in also include gouache, pastel, and colored pencil, and when doing murals or decorative painting it’s acrylic. But the majority of her work continues to be in oils.
     As for why she paints, “it’s just something I need to do. I love it, it provides a creative outlet and a reason to get up and get going many days” she says. Becoming involved in our community Arts Council and the new Tennessee River Fine Arts League (TRFAL) has opened the door to meeting and working with other artists and art supporters in the area. Having become involved in promoting the arts in general and painting in particular has given her much pleasure. Her goal is to paint as much as possible, to improve as she goes, and to broaden her horizons in the business of art.