Annie Wood
I am endlessly curious about how we move through the world—how we love, lose, grieve, and return to ourselves. My work is my way of paying attention. I create mixed-media paintings and drawings that hold the wild and the calm in the same space. Working on wood, claybord, paper, and linen, I layer acrylic, ink, charcoal, oil stick, oil, and collage, letting figures slowly appear as if they are remembering themselves.
The women I paint are alive in motion. Their bodies bend, stretch, and rest, carrying symbols such as crowns of hair, small animals, or shirts that speak truths. My process is physical and intuitive. I rub paint with my fingers, scratch into the surface, and allow chance to stay part of the final piece. I want the work to feel alive and imperfect. (I’m a proud imperfectionist.)
My practice is an exploration of self. Each painting asks, Who am I now? What do I love now? The act of creating becomes both a question and an answer—a way of moving toward self-realization and self-love.
Contact
anniewood.com
justbeherenow@mac.com
@artistanniewood
Interview
What inspires your art practice and keeps you motivated?
I feel lucky because I've always been easily motivated—by strangers, nature, movies, and my own inner world.
How does your mission as an artist influence the work you create?
I think my desire to encourage others to love and accept themselves comes through in my figures, usually women, who are full of emotion, quirk, and strength.
Can you share a key part of your creative process that helps you stay focused?
I get an idea and I become obsessed with that idea until I see it through. Part of my focus could be ADHD-inspired hyperfocus, but maybe I'd be this way even without this brain difference—who knows? All I know is when I am into something, I am INTO something. The rest of the world melts away.
What mindset tip do you rely on to overcome challenges in your art career?
My work is not for everyone, and that's okay. I don't need everyone. Trust that the right people will find you at the right time, and try not to think too much about the “after details.” Focus on the now—the now of creating. Focus on what you can control: your unique expression, your creativity.
How do you hope your art impacts the world or your community?
When a collector tells me that living with one of my pieces brightens their day, THAT brightens my day. I want to uplift, stir something, make someone pause—any and all of it. By creating tangible joy from our hands, hearts, and minds, we are leaving this world better than we found it. And that's not nothin’.
