We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anne Ward. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anne below.

Anne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve been teaching people online how to make more time for their art practice. Currently, that’s through using a painting app called Procreate on the iPad but I’ll also soon be teaching people to paint in gouache and maintain a daily practice through journaling.

Its important to me because in the process of raising kids and caring for parents, I found that staying creative was a powerful and rewarding means of nourishing myself. A daily practice of art making helped me to find calm and feel fulfilled through all of life’s curveballs.

When a student sends me a note that they found more time to make art, it absolutely thrills me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve been a professional artist for over 30 years. After college, I worked for a movie director and I dreamed of taking time off to learn to paint. It was while living in France that I first experienced the joy of painting outdoors. I returned to LA and dedicated myself to the pursuit of painting. I’ve been so lucky to have solo shows and have supportive collectors. I’m so honored when I hear a collector express how much one of my paintings means to them. In 2025, I’ll be having a solo show of my paintings at the Santa Paula Museum of Art. Over the years as I raised kids, I found that art often happens in the small moments between obligations. I’ve always been good with technology and wanted to figure out ways to use it to better serve me. I created a free mindfulness app which has been downloaded by thousands around the world and I also began to use the iPad as a way of sketching and conceiving of art. It allowed me to have all the colors of my oil paints in a digital format that I could tuck in my purse and use every day. So I love teaching and helping others find more time and space for their art…its so important these days!
My husband Ian Roberts is also an artist and a teacher. We share the studio out back and then I can often be found painting in the garden/tending flowers there.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Helping people align to their creativity and art practice. To me, making space and time to honor this connection to oneself is really about creating the conditions to be in the present moment better hearing one’s heart. It can get us through difficult and challenging times and we are ALL so creative.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I’ve helped so many people who are intimidated by technology or believe that they ‘can’t draw’. And I also help people who are further along in their art journey. Recently someone signed up for my self guided Procreate sketching class online. She found herself in a situation where she was in the hospital for a few days and she sent me the digital paintings she created there. It was fantastic to know that she was able to draw and paint digitally through some difficult days.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.anneward.com
• Instagram: anneward.art
• Facebook: Anne Ward
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTK1EM9cLGpyEcthXMKlAyQ
• Other: Link to my online digital painting class https://anne-ward-s-school1.teachable.com/p/procreate-basics-on-the-ipad-1