Annette Bird

Annette was born in the Midland village of Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire, UK. Upon seeing a hint of talent and an early delight in the arts, her parents studiously discouraged this interest and guided her towards a ‘proper job’, providing a thorough and engrossing education in science and maths. This led to a (happily short) career as a Speech Therapist. After travelling the world for some years cooking and eating and learning about life in the company of her husband, she started her art education in earnest in 2005 with Michael Kitchen, a well known Scottish artist. At that time Annette also had the opportunity to work with Stan Miller of Spokane USA and Charles Sluga from Australia, both highly regarded artists.

In 2010, Annette’s whole family moved to Santa Fe USA so Annette could study at the Tony Ryder Studio, a classical painting and drawing Atelier. She was able to spend many months working exclusively from life, painting in oils and mastering the art of portrait painting. Once back home in Scotland, she continued to develop her skills and exhibited in group and one person shows and put the Ryder school training to use. Her unique take on animals in Trompe L’oeil or ‘trick of the eye” paintings were developed at this time. Now Annette lives in Norfolk and wonders why she ever went anywhere else, it’s so lovely! Her art travels have taken her to France, Italy, Croatia, and all across the United States.