Annette Ragone Hall

The shapes, colors, and textures that abound in nature inspire the colorful abstract and impressionistic images I paint. Bold, bright, jewel colors are the hallmark of my work. I usually start a painting with a color idea, building the imagery intuitively as I apply color, shape, texture, and in some cases, multimedia objects.

I don't want my art to look like anyone else's. I don't want it to remind people of other art they've seen. My goal in creating a piece of art is to grab and hold the viewer's eye, drawing the person deeper into the painting to discover the myriad treasures there. I'm always fascinated when viewers tell me what they see in my paintings. I paint primarily in watercolor and acrylic because their fast-drying properties let me work quickly. I also like the transparency effects I can achieve with these two mediums.

In addition to my non-representational works, I paint commissioned portraits because I am fascinated by the human face and form, and I find it very challenging to capture both the spirit and the likeness of my subject.

My painting method:

I create paintings in a variety of ways. For the majority of my work, I decide on a general color theme and subject matter and then begin painting spontaneously from my imagination.

For my portraits, I take a large number of photographs of my subject using a digital camera. I may also do some studies from life. I then create my composition on the computer using Photoshop and print it out on a large-format inkjet printer. Using this large printout as reference, I draw the image on paper, working out any changes to the composition that I feel are necessary. I transfer the final composition to my painting support and begin painting. Sometimes I dispense with the computer stage and paint using the photos as general reference.

Annette's motto: