FEATURE: Annie Timothy's big and bold canvases

The abstract images she skilfully creates are brimming with energy and vitality, almost taking on a life of their own and beckoning you to delve ever deeper into what they portray.

"I want people to look at my paintings and think 'what do I want it to be?' and when someone has bought one, I want them to be able to keep on looking and getting refreshed interest, seeing elements they haven't noticed before," says Annie.

She took up painting seriously 15 years ago but has been drawing since she was 13 or 14.

After leaving school she became an apprentice window display designer, attending art college on day-release to study graphics.

That early conventional training, she believes, has stood her in good stead now that she concentrates on producing much more adventurous and dynamic work.

"I learnt all the technical side of how to draw, such as perspective and the golden section.

"I don't think you can be a good abstract artist unless you have the basics '“ it's a very good discipline."

Plans and drawing played an important role throughout her career in theatre wardrobe and stage management, but she then became an aromatherapist and it was only when she was forced to give this up because of carpal tunnel syndrome that art really came to the fore.

"I was wondering about what I could do next when a friend suggested drawing classes," Annie recalls.

"I went for a couple of years, gradually getting more into watercolours, from there into pastels. Now I work mainly in oils, occasionally mixed media.

"While I was following my career in the theatre I was always a drawer rather than a painter because I never had anywhere to set up a studio.

"But you can take sheets of paper and a piece of charcoal with you anywhere.

"I still always have a sketch pad with me and often when I'm driving, if I spot something I want to capture in a painting, I'll stop if possible, do an outline, make a few notes and bring it back to my studio."

Annie now has a spacious studio, filled with light, in the garden of the home she shares with her husband, Christopher, near Selsey, and she spends many hours there, often completely losing track of time as she becomes so absorbed in her painting.

"It's like a therapy for me, pure escapism," she explains. "I find abstract art so interesting and exciting '“ it's my great passion.

"It's a constant challenge because you're trying to improve all the time, both yourself and the canvas you're working on.

"I've been called a colourist by other artists. I like big, bold colours and often take risks by using them in unusual combinations that in theory shouldn't work '“ bubblegum pink with red, for instance, or brown with purple."

Annie's latest passion is photography, especially a technique known as 'dutching' where items, often everyday articles, are photographed from an unusual angle rather than 'face-on', and she is now beginning to use a similar technique in some of her paintings to remarkable effect.

Annie has exhibited and sold work mainly in Sussex, Hampshire, Birmingham, Kent and London, and commissions have been taken to America, Germany, France and Spain.

"I love knowing that there are pieces of work all over the world which are mine, which other people will see," she says. "Those people don't know me or anything about me, but it's a kind of legacy."

You can currently see Annie Timothy's work in the superb setting of West Stoke House art space, near Chichester, or visit her website: www.annietimothy.net

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