Ann Buss Art

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In my work I see themes about solitude and personal identity. It is a sturdy, self-reliant kind of solitude, but sometimes a more vulnerable kind, too. We all are, ulitmately, on our own, yet still so intimately connected. I'm also drawn to a kind of portrait-making because I love characters. I paint the quirks that make these characters unique and that make me love them. People have used the words mysterious and magical about the feelings in my work. I think because there is something other-worldly to it, even while it is about observable things. 

For my training, the best thing that happened to me was moving to South Africa in 2000 and finding teachers and mentors there. I wish I could make everyone feel as good and as free as I started to be when I moved paint around on paper and canvas.

I have worked to open doors for other artists in that way by teaching Julia Cameron's principles about unblocking, as detailed in her marvelous book, The Artist's Way. I've taught art to children and to adults in SA and in the US, teaching skills and mind sets that set people free to create. I have exhibted numerous times in the three countries I've lived in and been awarded in Juried Shows.

I like to put paint down in a way that is freeing to look at as well as to do, letting accidents happen, or at least opening the door to being led by a higher power who guides my brush.