Anne Deere

Anne Deere was born in The Swan, Co. Laois, went to school in Abbeyleix and Athy, and has lived and painted in Carlow for more than thirty years. Art has been part of her life since school — she took Art for her Leaving Certificate even though her school didn't offer classes in it, and earned an honour.

Entirely self-taught, Anne works mostly in oils from her home studio in Carlow. Her inspiration comes from the rural Irish landscape and a lifelong fascination with the sea — the crash of waves along the coastline, the hush of a lake under hills, the raw colour of the land.

She loves to spend weekends in woods, on cliffs and on beaches, sometimes starting a painting en plein air when the Irish weather allows. "I like to be in the place that I'm going to paint," she says, "because that's what art is all about — to move you in some way."

Colour sits at the heart of her work: how it shapes our lives and stirs feelings within us. Many people send Anne photographs of places that hold meaning for them — a beach visited as a child, a favourite view — and she visits the scene herself to capture its feeling on canvas.

Anne is a member of Carlow's Barrow Valley Art Group. Her work can be seen at her gallery in The Atrium, Shamrock Plaza, Carlow, and pieces have found homes in New York, Australia and the UK.