Chantilly, 48"x48", oli on canvas, by Ann Thornycroft

Ann Thornycroft is an American artist whose paintings have been extensively exhibited in the United States. Her abstract works embrace a dialogue between formal abstraction and the imagery as extracted from observations of nature. Thornycroft is fascinated by the tension between spontaneous and organic elements and geometric ones. Her compositions are created using oil and acrylic on canvas or oil pastel, gouache and watercolor on paper. Ann Thornycroft was born and raised in England. She earned her BA from the Central School of Art in London and a Higher Diploma in art at the Chelsea School of Art.. Her work is featured in the public collections of the Portland Art Museum, the Boise Art Museum, LACMA, Disney Studios, and Pepsico among many others and in numerous private collections. From art school in England, to art scene in New York, to home art studio in California, She lives and works in Los Angeles, California. The grid paintings began as works on paper in 1972 when I moved to Los Angeles from New York, in order to make sense of my surroundings, teach myself about the medium of watercolor and to create series of works which were organized around a particular structure. In the early years I was using the brushstroke made by the watercolor sable brush as handwriting which played against the formality of the 2 “ grid. I employed the quarter circle shape in order to soften the grid and create movement . I progressed to oil on canvas and over the next years made many paintings based on a 12” grid. My paintings have sometimes combined lyrical applications of paint with the formal grid shape and more recently I have been making hardedge compositions which are only loosely tethered to the grid . The shapes in these paintings are often circular or triangular. Color is my motivator and I use it as an emotional and intellectual tool.