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Buddies, Oil on linen, 11” x 14”

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Celebrated for her soft, impressionistic brush, Anne Blair Brown’s

canvases are anything but timid. !ey are vivid explorations of active spaces and life in motion, cafés, restaurants, bustling market-places. !ey are images that o"er us the irresistible beauty of everyday life. One can immediately sense the time of day, the closeness of objects, and the immediacy of the artist’s impression through her brilliant use of color. She baptizes her subjects in light—di"used, direct, and piercing. A conversation with Brown quickly reveals the secrets of her painting style. Like her art, she is accessible, immediate, and always in the moment.

A graduate of the University of Georgia and Watkins College of Art & Design, Brown, a former chef, left behind the creativity of the culinary world for that of a professional painter. She now o"ers sold-out work-shops in Nashville and elsewhere. Brown credits her mother for her interest in and love of food.

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Anne Blair BrownSunny with a Chance of Rain

by Colleen Creamer

“I learned from my mother the skills that you normally would have to go to culinary school to learn,” she says. “I gained a love for food and for local and seasonal fare.” A self-proclaimed foodie, Brown, in her painting style, embraces the same physicality and sumptuousness demanded by the culinary arts. Not surprisingly waiters, busboys, and cooks in steamy kitchens often populate her work. You can almost feel the tension of the organized chaos. Her swirling brush strokes can mimic the rhythm of #amboyant French chefs in full #ight, the intimacy of a cozy table for two, or a stroll along the Champs Élysées on a rainy afternoon.

Evident in Brown’s Nashville studio is her love of travel and in particu-lar her romance with Europe. She lights up when asked about her expe-riences abroad. “I started traveling a few years ago with my husband and

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62fell in love with France and Italy for the cuisine, their café culture, and the fabulous food markets.” Like Renoir and Manet, Brown feels at home perched beside a bustling patio of outdoor diners with her canvas and brush, eavesdropping on the dialog, capturing the nuance of conversation. She could so easily be a subject in one of her own paint-ings, sitting outside a Paris bistro, whiling away the hours, people watching, making up stories to $t the colorful scenes around her. She has a passion for sensory experiences, and her awareness of the rela-tional, personal context of social spaces is intoxicating.

Brown likes to paint en plein air, a style of painting popularized by the Impressionist painters in the late nineteenth century, as a means to escape the con$nes of the studio and to take part in the exhilarating process of painting in public. She likes nothing more than to follow in their footsteps, lugging her easel and brushes outdoors to capture the authentic sensation

Careful Selection, Oil on linen, 16” x 20”

of nature. Speaking of her experiences with fellow painters in Nashville’s Chestnut Group, Brown says, “It is physically challenging to paint outside. We have a lot of heavy equipment that we have to haul around, sometimes down ravines or up steep hills, but ultimately that is what inspires me. I like being around people who are sharing the same experience as I am and who are also hungry for progress in their work.”

When studying the Impressionists, Brown $nds herself drawn to the setting and subject of their work and to their bold, sometimes-imperfect brushstrokes. Brown’s technique revives the old traditions of the acad-emy and captures the liveliness of the movement. “!e Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte (see Nashville Arts Magazine October 2010) is possi-bly one of my favorite paintings of all time,” she says. “Also practically any work by Edouard Manet. I love paintings that show ordinary people doing ordinary things. For me that’s where the magic is.”

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63BELOW: Sunny With a Chance of Rain, Oil on linen, 20” x 20”

LEFT: Neighborhood Pride, Oil on linen, 16” x 20”

ABOVE: Five O’Clock Somewhere, Oil on linen, 12” x 12”

I love paintings that show

ordinary people doing

ordinary things. For me

that’s where the magic is.

TOP LEFT: Now You’re Cookin’, Oil on linen, 12” x 12”

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64For those who believe that the artistic process is de$ned by the applica-tion of paint, Brown’s years of experience have taught her just the opposite. “A lot of painters just don’t know when to quit. !ey keep adding paint and wind up with a muddy, lifeless painting. Less is more, and sometimes it’s best to let a painting go. I try to keep my work loose and not over analyze.”

She remains humbly aware of the time that she has invested in perfect-ing her craft. When asked how long it takes her to complete a painting, she hints that each one demands a lifetime of work. “You have twelve failures and then two that work. !e answer, as many artists know, is two hours and forty-two years.” www.anneblairbrown.com

LEFT: Luminous Evening, Oil on linen, 12” x 12”

ABOVE: Mood Lighting, Oil on linen, 20” x 24”

BELOW: Mending Fences, Oil on linen, 8” x 10”

BELOW LEFT: Open Market, Oil on linen, 18” x 24”

BOTTOM: Gossip Girls, Oil on linen, 12” x 16”