Ann Cowden

About the Artist

Having painted since old enough to hold a pencil, I have settled on oils as my medium of choice. Oils provide rich brushstrokes, wonderful color and permanence, a factor in portraits, wanting them to last many lifetimes. I strive to capture the personality and essence of the subject as well as their likeness, and I have never had a dissatisfied client! My clients dictate the setting and clothing with my recommendations after meeting with them and learning who they are and what their style is.

She was honored to be selected to paint President Woodrow Wilson for the University of Virginia School of Law where it hangs today. She has painted many posthumous portraits, male and female, and several CEOs to hang in their boardrooms. Beautiful children with rosy skin tones and soft round faces are incredibly fun, and I love the character of older adults with the wisdom their faces portray.

She has a vast library of art books and travel to museums as frequently as possible to study paintings of the old masters…Zorn, Sargent, Cassatt, Cecelia Beaux and William Meritt Chase are but a few of my heroes. Studying their work provides vast education on the colors and the techniques they used……invaluable to what she does every day. “I learn something new every day and I am open to all of the information I can find about portraits and those who painted them. I believe that painting landscapes, still lifes and seascapes can make one a better portrait painter and so I continue to hone my skills in those areas also. I continue to study with artists whose work I admire all over the country always wishing to improve and grow. Every day is an adventure and I never want to become complacent and think I know all I need to know!”