ACS Magazine July/August 2019 ANNE SUTHERLAND ARTIST AND ENTREPRENEUR
Abstraction and color are the artistic elements which allow Anne Sutherland to leave the subject somewhat behind, keeping some of the familiar while pushing her paintings toward unknown, unfamiliar shapes.
Anne was born in Syracuse, New York and grew up in the rural community of Roxbury in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Her art education was not a formal one. She began with an evening life drawing class using the contour drawing method. Years later, she studied oil painting with Jeanne Hastings in Lake George, New York, learning a color theory she still uses today. She later started teaching kids and adults how to draw and paint. “My education continued with the professional artists I hired to teach the classes,” she said. “I joined in and kept learning.” Her education and practice continued as she painted en plein air in Finland, honed sketching skills on the streets of Nantucket, Massachusetts, took classes, attended critiques and participated in shows.
Anne’s subjects are still lifes, elements of photographs of landscapes surrounding her studio and whatever she finds looking out her studio window. She alternates between real subjects, old paintings and fresh new abstractions on a new canvas.
Working with an old painting, Anne will sand it down and cover it with a transparent dark glaze. Using a soft cloth, she wipes to find a new composition, turning it around to make it into something entirely different. “I love working this way,” she said. “I use new, fat paint around those shapes, incorporating new with the old.”
When painting new subjects from life or photos, she uses a similar process. “A still life painting painted accurately doesn’t have enough history for me,” she said. “So I wait for it to dry, cover with a dark transparent and wipe it back to find something more meaningful and mysterious in it. I’m always interested in editing to find the essence, the message of beauty.”
Anne uses a floppy brush to begin a new abstract on a new canvas. “I close my eyes and start with some shapes with a dark transparent color,” she said. “From there, I respond to the shapes and look for the area of strongest light and dark or focal point. Everything else supports that point. Sometimes another area becomes stronger and I destabilize the
original focal point and strengthen the new one. One mark changes everything and affects the whole.”
In addition to her work as a professional artist, Anne has had numerous success stories as a creative entrepreneur. It all began in the 80s after she read the book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Julia Edwards. “I taught a friend’s nine-year-old how to ‘see’ using a stuffed animal as a model for contour drawing,” Anne said. “Then I taught her how to paint chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk in a still life set-up. After that positive experience, I put out the word to my friends. I had 30 sign ups!” A friend had bought an old factory building and needed renters. Anne took a leap of faith and began The Art Room, teaching oil painting to kids and adults, eventually adding an art supply store.
She sold the business after four years of “very hard work” and moved to Finland, returning two years later followed by a marriage that ended. Living on a teacher’s salary with the summer off, Anne rented a room for the summer on the island of Nantucket and started a new business, Sketching Tours of Nantucket, in order to make ends meet.
“It was an idea that came to me in the middle of the night,” she said. “I developed an ad, printed flyers and the business was born with only six students the first summer.” The business grew the following year. Soon, Sketching Tours for Kids was born.
A Channel 5 television crew came from Boston to film “the lady who could teach anyone to sketch.” Articles appeared in Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine and The Boston Globe. Eventually, Anne left her public school job, retired early and decided to pursue art full time - teaching and painting. She began Sketching Saratoga in upstate New York during the winter months and returned to Nantucket each summer.
Then another opportunity fell into her lap and she took her sketching tour to Paris, sketching in Monet’s garden at Giverney.
What did she learn about being a successful entrepreneur in the arts? “A successful entrepreneur is willing to take a leap, take action and implement,” she said. “I look for the ‘holes,’ the ‘niche business’ in an area. The model I used is similar to the successful sip and paint events today, except I taught more advanced skills to the first-timer.
Anne Sutherland now lives and creates in Greenwich, New York, surrounded by nature and farmland in New York’s Washington County.
She brought her entrepreneurial savvy to the region’s Open Studios of Washington County biennial. “I see Washington County artists as an untapped resource for the economy,” she said as she looks forward to welcoming visitors to her studio for the next Open Studios in July. “It’s an exciting place to be when you are in your 70’s - painting full time. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
Abstraction and color are the artistic elements which allow Anne Sutherland to leave the subject somewhat behind, keeping some of the familiar while pushing her paintings toward unknown, unfamiliar shapes.
Anne was born in Syracuse, New York and grew up in the rural community of Roxbury in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Her art education was not a formal one. She began with an evening life drawing class using the contour drawing method. Years later, she studied oil painting with Jeanne Hastings in Lake George, New York, learning a color theory she still uses today. She later started teaching kids and adults how to draw and paint. “My education continued with the professional artists I hired to teach the classes,” she said. “I joined in and kept learning.” Her education and practice continued as she painted en plein air in Finland, honed sketching skills on the streets of Nantucket, Massachusetts, took classes, attended critiques and participated in shows.
Anne’s subjects are still lifes, elements of photographs of landscapes surrounding her studio and whatever she finds looking out her studio window. She alternates between real subjects, old paintings and fresh new abstractions on a new canvas.
Working with an old painting, Anne will sand it down and cover it with a transparent dark glaze. Using a soft cloth, she wipes to find a new composition, turning it around to make it into something entirely different. “I love working this way,” she said. “I use new, fat paint around those shapes, incorporating new with the old.”
When painting new subjects from life or photos, she uses a similar process. “A still life painting painted accurately doesn’t have enough history for me,” she said. “So I wait for it to dry, cover with a dark transparent and wipe it back to find something more meaningful and mysterious in it. I’m always interested in editing to find the essence, the message of beauty.”
Anne uses a floppy brush to begin a new abstract on a new canvas. “I close my eyes and start with some shapes with a dark transparent color,” she said. “From there, I respond to the shapes and look for the area of strongest light and dark or focal point. Everything else supports that point. Sometimes another area becomes stronger and I destabilize the
original focal point and strengthen the new one. One mark changes everything and affects the whole.”
In addition to her work as a professional artist, Anne has had numerous success stories as a creative entrepreneur. It all began in the 80s after she read the book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Julia Edwards. “I taught a friend’s nine-year-old how to ‘see’ using a stuffed animal as a model for contour drawing,” Anne said. “Then I taught her how to paint chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk in a still life set-up. After that positive experience, I put out the word to my friends. I had 30 sign ups!” A friend had bought an old factory building and needed renters. Anne took a leap of faith and began The Art Room, teaching oil painting to kids and adults, eventually adding an art supply store.
She sold the business after four years of “very hard work” and moved to Finland, returning two years later followed by a marriage that ended. Living on a teacher’s salary with the summer off, Anne rented a room for the summer on the island of Nantucket and started a new business, Sketching Tours of Nantucket, in order to make ends meet.
“It was an idea that came to me in the middle of the night,” she said. “I developed an ad, printed flyers and the business was born with only six students the first summer.” The business grew the following year. Soon, Sketching Tours for Kids was born.
A Channel 5 television crew came from Boston to film “the lady who could teach anyone to sketch.” Articles appeared in Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine and The Boston Globe. Eventually, Anne left her public school job, retired early and decided to pursue art full time - teaching and painting. She began Sketching Saratoga in upstate New York during the winter months and returned to Nantucket each summer.
Then another opportunity fell into her lap and she took her sketching tour to Paris, sketching in Monet’s garden at Giverney.
What did she learn about being a successful entrepreneur in the arts? “A successful entrepreneur is willing to take a leap, take action and implement,” she said. “I look for the ‘holes,’ the ‘niche business’ in an area. The model I used is similar to the successful sip and paint events today, except I taught more advanced skills to the first-timer.
Anne Sutherland now lives and creates in Greenwich, New York, surrounded by nature and farmland in New York’s Washington County.
She brought her entrepreneurial savvy to the region’s Open Studios of Washington County biennial. “I see Washington County artists as an untapped resource for the economy,” she said as she looks forward to welcoming visitors to her studio for the next Open Studios in July. “It’s an exciting place to be when you are in your 70’s - painting full time. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
CV