Fairlight artist recoversfrom crash to win award

Annie, who lives in Lower Coastguards Lane, Fairlight not only paints but specialises in linoprints and fabric collages.

Her latest success was winning the Great Art Award for the best exhibits at the recent Society of Botanical Artists show. Her colourful linoprint entries were voted the most outstanding out of over 700 exhibits on show.

It was a great pick me up for Annie who had been unable to do any printing work for over four months after being injured in a car accident.

One of her most unusual achievements came in 2002 when she was commissioned to decorate a life size fibreglass cow for the Cow Parade in London. Using acrylic paint Annie covered the cow in birds, and it was voted Cow Parade Champion in a Farmer’s Weekly poll.

It was later auctioned at the Royal Smithfield Show raising thousands of pounds for charity. To this day she still has an exact miniature replica of the cow standing in her studio.

A few years ago passengers travelling on the liner Saga Rose would have seen six large panels painted by Annie in various areas of the ship.

The Ballet Rambert were also so impressed with her work that they used her large collage of birds, that looked as though they were dancing, as a backdrop for their workshops for children.

Annie is set to open her studio in her Fairlight home to the public on each Friday, Saturday and Sunday between June 7 and June 27 as part of the South East Open Studios event.