Anna L. Conti 2010

A Video Portfolio of paintings, with a short talk about technique.

I'm a mostly self-taught painter, although I did attend Philadelphia College of Art when I was in high school (their Advanced Placement program.) After high school, I worked as a graphic artist and illustrator for several years, becoming increasingly disillusioned with "Art" as I saw it practiced in that field. After a difficult personal stretch, when my mother died of cancer, I gave up on art and entered nursing school. 18 years in the trenches of Health Care delivery convinced me to give art another try. Moving to San Francisco helped, too. The city is my home and my muse.

I identify as a California Regionalist painter, but since 2001, I've been pursuing more narrative work. I tend to paint in series of 8 to 12 images that focus on a theme or story and while I'm working on that series, I still take time out to paint more typical cityscapes, still lifes and portraits.

My primary medium is acrylic on canvas. After many years of practice, I've developed a slow, careful glazing technique that results in a very rich, luminous surface that is often mistaken for oil. But I spend almost as much time before the painting begins - setting up and photographing scenes; cropping and manipulating the images; and transferring the images to canvas with the traditional grid method. Then I make my own frames.

I've been lucky to find wonderful galleries to exhibit each of my last series in solo shows, here in San Francisco. The next series will be ready to show in 2010.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• art
• fine art
• painting
• San Francisco
• California Regionalist
• gallery
• portfolio
• realism
• narrative painting
• Anna L. Conti
• acrylic

[lydiaexe]

You're amazing, Anna-- you just gave me (us) an entire painting lesson AND a great little overview of some of my favorite pieces, in less than 6 minutes! It's a rare gift to teach AND entertain. I'm going to use what I just learned from you, and paint an animal skull. Thank you, Anna!

[SubconsciousDweller]

You are a beautyfull person....thank you for sharing!!