Artist of the Year 2023 is Edna Perkinson!

From my earliest years I was drawing. My first masterpiece was a self-portrait scratched into my parents’ headboard when I should have been taking a nap.

When I was 16 I took my first art workshop with my great aunt Mary, spending the week painting in oils and pastels. I continued to steal away to watercolor workshops and paint when I could while pursuing a career as a hospital pharmacy manager and raising three children.

After I retired I continued to take workshops, studying oil painting with Susan Hecht whose paintings are fresh and colorful. She helped me “see” the light and color in my world, and translate it to canvas.

I find that spending time with other artists renews the spirit. I have particularly enjoyed recent workshops in oil with Jane French, Colley Whisson, Dottie Leatherwood and Marc Hanson. Monica Linares and Melanie Morris motivated me to paint flowers in acrylic. I recently discovered a love for painting with gouache from Lena Rivo.

My favorite subjects are figures and waterscapes. I have been inspired by my grandchildren’s visits to the ocean. I also love to paint flowers from life, and try to paint or sketch every day.

Finding other artists through the Sanford Brush and Palette Club twelve years ago deepened my appreciation for other techniques, mediums and styles, and enriched my life with new friends. I live in Sanford with my husband Ron.

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