My Journey to The Wednesday Studio
I come from a family of avocational artists. My mom painted china; my dad dabbled in oils after he gave up doctoring for a living. He mostly copied old masters. I have a “Van Gogh” by Ike Hudson which I think is really quite good.
I followed in the family tradition, taking up art classes after retiring from full-time lawyering. I started at the Smithsonian but the students were old geezers like me so I didn’t want any part of that. I transitioned to the Corcoran where you were integrated with fine arts majors. I had some great instruction from Annette Polan, one of Washington’s premier portrait artists. But when Annette left on sabbatical, leaving me with a whole closet full of portraits of people whose names I never knew, I began to look elsewhere for help. Lucky for me I ran into Martha Pope, a fellow denizen of the Wednesday Studio, who suggested I give the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop a chance. I began with watercolors under Gina Clapp, and when Gina got enthusiatic about pastels, so did I. When Ellen, an award-winning pastel artist, took over the class from Gina, my immersion in pastels became deeper and more exclusive. I still dabble in watercolor from time to time, but as Ellen says, I am a pastelista. The depth of the color is something I’ll never find in watercolor. And it’s such a mess! It’s wonderful. And so is the Wednesday Studio.
Anne Shields
Pastelista
THE WEDNESDAY STUDIO 
Anne, I love reading the account of how you came to where you are.
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Now I know where to go for help during my foray into portraiture! And whatever did happen to your “closet full of portraits?”
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