Art of the West digital magazine
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/32473
Summer Cutting Garden, oil, 28˝ by 36˝ “This gorgeous cutting garden was behind a farm stand in Connecticut. I brought my modified Julian box, with an extension to accommodate this large canvas, and went there several times. I did three great block-ins to get my composition, color, and light and finished the paintings during the winter in my studio.” garden and landscape scenes in my area that I might want to paint,” she says. “Sometimes I paint outside by myself and other times I go out with friends.” Anderson is particularly knowl- edgeable about the flowers that grow on the East Coast. Born in Long Island, New York, she watched her mother tenderly care for gardens around the family home, quickly learning the names of all the flowers growing there and develop- ing an appreciation for their beauty. Flowers were not the subjects of Anderson’s first artworks, however. As a child, she drew animals, an endeavor that continued through- out high school. Thinking that she might want to pursue a career in art, after graduating from high school, Anderson enrolled at Farmingdale State College on Long Island as a major in advertising art and design. The program, however, was not a good match for her. “While I’m never at a loss for sub- ject matter for my paintings, I found that the developing concepts within the structure of commercial art held no appeal for me,” Anderson says. After less than two years, she left college and signed on as a ticket agent for United Airlines at JFK International Airport, where she met John, who held a similar position with the airline. The couple married in 1970, and Anderson quit her job in the late ‘70s to raise her two children: Christopher, now 33, and Ben, now 31. “Even though I was a stay-at-home mom with young children, I wanted to continue painting, and I wanted to sell my work,” Anderson says. “I focused on animals and flowers in watercolor on paper.” John, she says, always has been May/June 2011 • ART of the WEST 43