ARTIST BIO

Ann Collins is an Australian painter whose practice spans more than five decades. Working intuitively with a strong sense of spontaneity, her work is characterised by expressive colour,layered mark-making and an emotional response to subject rather than literal representation. Her current focus is on stillife and loose floral painting, inspired largely by the richness and seasonal change of her own garden.

Ann works across oils,acrylics and watercolour. In recent years, her body of work has been focused primarily on using oils on stretched canvas, allowing for depth, richness and layered colour. Along side her studio practise, she maintains a daily watercolour routine and has filled many visual diaries over the years, using them as an ongoing source of reference and visual exploration.

While florals and stillife remain central to her work,watercolour offers a sense of freedom and immediacy, and she continues to respond to rugged coastlines and beaches when opportunity arises, often painting en plain air.

Her practice is further enriched by an ongoing engagement with printmaking. Over the years Ann has undertaken numerous workshops developing skills in Dry point etching, Copperplate etching,Lithography, Reduction Lino printing and Monoprint. She continues to explore and practise these methods regularly in her studio, finding they bring another dimension and perspective to her art practice, informing both her approach to mark making and composition.

Her approach is also informed by a long engagement with painting and a deep respect for artists who championed expressive colour and personal vision. Influences include Paul Ce'zanne, and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as Australian painters Margaret Preston and Margaret Olley.

'Throughout her career, Ann has exhibited extensively, participating in over 80 group exhibitions and solo exhibitions across regional Victoria, metropolitan Melbourne, regional New South Wales and Canberra. She has been the recipient of more than 40 art awards within the north-east Victoria. In the late 1990's she operated her own privately run gallery in Albury and for many years maintained a home studio where she taught watercolour, oils and acrylics over three decades.

Committed to ongoing learning and artistic development,Ann continues to attend workshops and exhibit regularly. She completed a Certificate III in Visual and Contemporary Craft and Textile Design in 2009. Now in her fifth decade of painting, Ann brings both experience and curiosity to her practice, allowing each work to evolve organically through colour, intuition and a lifelong dedication to painting.