Brenda Ann

Artist Statement

I am a watercolor artist but also dabble in photography. My goal for my artwork is to capture the beauty of everyday scenes. I use bold, contrasting values to heighten the visual impact of my compositions, which often feature subjects like architecture and flowers. My artwork draws inspiration from the landscapes of South Jersey where I live and colorful tropical environments like Sanibel Island, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater Beach, Orlando, Cape Canaveral, Kissimmee, Marathon, Islamorada, Key Largo, Big Pine Key, and Key West in Florida, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In my work, I try to capture nature that I discover on my morning walks and in our backyard, as with my 28-foot-long painting of hydrangeas, Life Cycle. This monumental watercolor was created on a roll of paper too large for a desk, so it was painted on the floor with me standing over it, as Jackson Pollock did with his drip paintings. I used large watercolor brushes and professional watercolor paints. I had to wait hours and sometimes days for each section to dry. This piece is my tribute to the humble hydrangea, which is featured in much of our design work at my family's flower shop. It reminds me to appreciate the beauty of life. Through abstracted realism, this work reminds me to move toward contentment and spiritual harmony, suggesting that true serenity emerges from acknowledging the miraculous natural world.