New in Spring of 2025
ANNE FRENCH
Anne is a third generation painter, following after her mother and grandmother. Having
no formal academic art training, she learned from them while growing up, and initially
began by sketching animals and the human figure. As an adult having a compelling
connection with nature, her passion became the landscape. She paints with oils, on
canvas, and on panel boards, occasionally painting only with palette knives.
Many of Anne's landscape paintings are inspired by the alluring charm of pastoral
Virginia and the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives, as well as the
rugged beauty of her native New England where she returns each summer. She also
travels to other parts of the country and brings photographs and studies back to her
home studio to complete if they cannot be finished on the road. Her style is continually
changing and developing as she seeks to evoke the beauty, emotion, or whimsy she
feels regarding her subjects.
Although Anne holds a B.S. in Public Service & Community Studies from the University
of Massachusetts, after retiring from the University of Virginia, she returned to painting
and studied with artists from the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville, among others.
She also belongs to a group of plein air painters called “Virginia Local Plein Air”.
Anne lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband, Jim, and their Newfoundland
dogs. They enjoy spending time with their family, their dogs, traveling, camping and
hiking, and of course, painting!