Annie Wildey

"Coastal Surf" horizontal oil painting of waves crashing in the ocean

Since summer 2004, I have lived in southern Italy, in the region of Puglia, the province of Bari, in a town called Altamura. A two-week restoration project of the Jesce Masseria brought me here. My plan after that was to set up an atelier in Paris and spend my days painting the pretty and elongated noses of the Parisians. Two weeks was all I planned to be in Altamura. I am drawn like love to this countryside where I live now. Olive trees are woven in the ochre-colored hills that extend from Altamura. The vista is a tapestry of silver and saffron threads, a palette of the subtle hues of a faded fresco. The air is perfumed by tomatoes drying in the sun and the fermenting juices pressed from the fleshy grapes. Underneath a lapis blue sky, the prehistoric looking "ferula" plant unfolds on the plains like a congregation of nomads crossing a desert. I sense this countryside has fought to survive. The land is raw, brutally honest, and as passionate as the works of Van Gogh. The people of Altamura are tireless workers and the gatekeepers of traditions. I am drawn to their vitality and passionate spirit. I am intrigued by their dark ebony eyes, antique profiles, beautifully weathered skin and stone chiseled hands. A subtle, caramel color saturates my canvases as I paint the very old and the very young - Il Viaggio dela Vita! My mother's family emigrated from northern Italy in the early nineteen hundreds. When they arrived in Canada, it took only three generations for my family's stories to fade and language to be lost. Here, I am discovering the soil that seeded my family. My Nonna (grandmother) would be so pleased to know that I am happy here...

The rhythm of the waves marks time, like the breath. Moment to moment, its intensity fluctuates like emotion. Thoughts linger and pass, like a veil of fog. At the shore I am reminded to be present. It provides a place for contemplation and reflection. I identify with the strength and vulnerability of the ocean when a storm is brewing or passing, when the surf is up, when the fog looms or is lifting, when the horizon is obscured, or the sky begins to clear, I find beauty in these moments of transition. I bring this experience into the studio as I interpret the smells, sounds, feelings, and energy of the water or the quiet movement of fog. The process is fluid, moving between freedom and control, accident and intention, as I push and pull the paint to convey and realize my visual and emotional experiences. BIOGRAPHY Annie is a British painter and printmaker. She moved to New York City in 1989 and worked at the British Consulate. Art remained a part of her life during those years, but in 2006 she left and begin a new chapter, returning to a life with art at the very center and enrolled in an MFA program at the The New York Academy of Art. This provided the instruction, immersion and creative freedom to develop her skills and artistic voice and proved to be a fruitful time bringing with it several awards including a Post-graduate Fellowship, Prince of Wales Scholarships, and travel awards to Normandy, France and St Barts, in the French West Indies. After the fellowship Annie left New York for the East End of Long Island and spent two wonderful years in the quiet hamlet of Orient, as Artist-in-Residence at the William Steeple Davis...

“People sometimes ask me how I start a painting. Starting a painting is easy. I just put down two strokes of color. The interaction between these two marks is the beginning of the di...

The rhythm of the waves marks time, like the breath. Moment to moment, its intensity fluctuates like emotion. Thoughts linger and pass, like a veil of fog. At the shore I am reminded to be present. It provides a place for contemplation and reflection. I identify with the strength and vulnerability of the ocean when a storm is brewing or passing, when the surf is up, when the fog looms or is lifting, when the horizon is obscured, or the sky begins to clear, I find beauty in these moments of transition. I bring this experience into the studio as I interpret the smells, sounds, feelings, and energy of the water or the quiet movement of fog. The process is fluid, moving between freedom and control, accident and intention, as I push and pull the paint to convey and realize my visual and emotional experiences. BIOGRAPHY Annie is a British painter and printmaker. She moved to New York City in 1989 and worked at the British Consulate. Art remained a part of her life during those years, but in 2006 she left and begin a new chapter, returning to a life with art at the very center and enrolled in an MFA program at the The New York Academy of Art. This provided the instruction, immersion and creative freedom to develop her skills and artistic voice and proved to be a fruitful time bringing with it several awards including a Post-graduate Fellowship, Prince of Wales Scholarships, and travel awards to Normandy, France and St Barts, in the French West Indies. After the fellowship Annie left New York for the East End of Long Island and spent two wonderful years in the quiet hamlet of Orient, as Artist-in-Residence at the William Steeple Davis...