‘My days are filled with art and happiness’

From the moment she wakes up until she goes to bed, Ann Mitchell admits that she thinks about her art. “My days are filled with art and happiness,” says the mixed media artist who is slowly making waves in the art world with her breathtaking collage portraits featuring a kaleidoscope of colour.

The daughter of Niall (who was the former lock-keeper in Rahan) and the late Bridie Mitchell from Gallen in Ferbane, Ann comes from a very creative family with her sister, Caroline, a million-selling author and another sister, Louise, working as a landscape artist.

As she approaches her 61st birthday next month, Ann Mitchell admits to being “a bit of a later convert” to the art world, but she is hugely motivated and focused and hopes to be able to make a living as a full-time artist over the coming years.

Having lived and worked in Athlone for 35 years as a social care worker and also as a personal trainer in Shannonside Gym, it was only after her retirement that Ann Mitchell started making mosaics. “I was grinding tiny pieces of glass with a grinder to create my mosaics for about five years and people used to think I was a bit mad,” she laughs.

“Look back on my life I suppose I was always creative, I love gardening, knitting, working with stained glass, and I was always good with my hands, so the art was always inside of me somewhere,” says the Offaly woman.

However, the experience of having a son who has battled with a chronic condition all his life influenced Ann Mitchell to pour her “heart and soul” into her art, and she admits that the “very first portrait” she created was of her son, Darren, who is now 36 years old.

“I have always loved mixed media, so I combined mixed media with collage to come up with my own unique style, and I try to convey the whole range of the human condition through my work,” she says.

Having observed her son overcome many setbacks and display remarkable resilience and strength throughout his life, Ann Mitchell refers to him as her “true warrior” and says he has been “a real inspiration” for her in her work. She also has another son, Jason, who is 35, and she says she is “very proud” of both her sons.

It takes at least a month for Ann Mitchell to create a single 30 x 40 inch painting and she begins the process by drawing a sketch. She then places collage over the sketch, after which she begins the intricate and very time-consuming job of “painting into” the collage using a mix of acrylics, pen, ink and gold leaf to create the finished masterpiece. The entire process is complete when she has sealed and varnished each painting.

“When I finish one piece I am already thinking about the next piece,” she says, “and my head is always buzzing with ideas, I am absolutely thrilled to have found my niche in life, and I honestly couldn’t be happier.”

She lives with her partner, William, in the family home where she grew up in Gallen, and is over the moon to be able to create art all day. “I make art all day long, and I have to try to squeeze other things into my day, but it is my art that makes me truly happy,” she explains.

Although she is a relatively new name in the art world, Ann Mitchell has already exhibited her work in a number of galleries around the country, including the Split Space Art Space in Tullamore, the Chimera Gallery in Mullingar, the Luan Gallery in Athlone and also in the Tilehouse in Donegal. She is currently preparing to take her unique artistic style to Galway in a solo art exhibition at the Renzo Gallery and Café in April 2023.

Working under the name of AnnieMae Art, Ann Mitchell says each of her paintings is “made with love” and she focuses on many aspects of the human condition in her works, such as beauty, pain, hope, strength, resilience and overcoming adversity. “Art is how I express what it means to be human, the vulnerability, strength and resilience that we as humans possess,” she says, adding that, for her, “art is healing”.

Ann Mitchell has an upcoming exhibition in Burgess Village, Athlone, titled 'RAW', which opens this Friday, July 29, and will run for a month. She will raffle one of her large statement limited edition 32 x 25 inch prints called Bliss on the opening night of the exhibition with all proceeds from the raffle going to Ukraine.

A selection of her 'Goddess' paintings, which incorporate dream-like saturated colours and textures, and have captivated everyone who has seen them, are available in limited edition fine art prints in a variety of sizes, and can be supplied framed or unframed.

“I can’t even express how happy I am to spend every day of my life making art,” says the grateful and talented Offaly artist. “It really is a dream come true.”

Ann Mitchell’s art work can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/anniemae.art or Instagram @anniemae_art