Artist: Ann Mills

Ann Mills says the arts in their broadest sense have always featured in her life. She believes We are created to be creative and we all have some ability to create. Art is a very powerful means of communication and ‘painting’ has been a part of Ann's life’s journey, either looking at images someone else has created or producing her own.

After retiring from full time employment Ann was able to become more focussed and attended York college for 4 years on a part time basis. She now works from a small garden studio, usually on a specific project over a period of time which may extend to 12 months or more. This period is interspersed with smaller projects (such as a few studied still-lifes) which relieve or prevent tedium.

Ann describes each image as taking a life of its own, that must communicate with her before she is happy with it. Some images never make it of course, others are consigned to the garden to be distressed and decay as pieces in their own right. Some she revisits at a later date, often with surprising results.

Ann's work over the past 18 months has been concerned mainly with aspects of York’s architecture. Excited by the layout of York’s streets and the positioning of buildings and by the city’s long and distinguished history, she descibes York as a privilege to live in and an inspiring city to paint.

Ann has also been inspired by C.J. Sansome’s book ‘Sovereign’, in which so much comes to light about the York of 1541, when the place was so different from the present, though so many place names and buildings remain little changed.

Her paintings seem to range from fairly representational through to abstract, using mainly acrylic, ink, charcoal and collage. The palette ranges from subdued to high colour. She seems noticeably concerned with lost and found edges and surface pattern and sometimes leaves areas open and light. She is influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Cubism and also by the work of John Piper.

Ann's main hope is that the viewer will engage with her pictures and be encouraged to appreciate York all the more. This current project will be ongoing for some time to come.

For more information on paintings by Ann Mills, please contact the Artfulness Gallery