silver strands: ANNIE HENRIE GIVEAWAY

Monday, October 10, 2011

ANNIE HENRIE GIVEAWAY

I was going to save this giveaway till I reached 300 followers, but it's just too exciting to hold off any longer! Let me introduce you to 25-year-old artist, Annie Henrie:

I met Annie a few weeks ago when she was signing prints at a store. Before I even saw Annie I was awestruck by her magnificent work! It drew me in. And then her work became even more beautiful as I visited with Annie and felt her genuine, tender heart as she spoke.

Titled: First Blossom

I asked Annie to tell me about her personal "Silver Strands" and this is what she said:

"My silver strands are the people in my life - my parents, family and friends - these are my angels in difficult times, and a lot of my art is dedicated to them. I look back on my life with a real amazement for the teachers that were placed in my path. I was raised with a professional artist for a dad and he taught me to paint and draw when I was really little. I also was able to work as an art assistant for J. Kirk Richards, who gave me a lot of inspiration and encouraged me to do religious art. These incredible mentors and many great teachers have been a huge blessing toward helping me to create art today."

Titled: Star of Wonder

When I asked Annie what it is that inspires her work, this was her reply:

"Traveling abroad to Europe - particularly England and Italy - was a huge inspiration, and has deeply influenced my work. I basically left my heart in Italy - and it was while I was living in Florence for a month I started making religious art, which I fell in love with. I loved the contrast of these beautiful old walls that had been around for hundreds of years, and yet were surrounded by modern life. I wanted to create art that was that balance of antiquity and freshness - art that people can relate to in any age and yet will not look dated. My art is also really influenced by spiritual experiences I had while serving as a missionary in England for my church. I met people there that yearned for relief from trials, and wanted more hope and a greater purpose to life. I met people there who were spiritual, faithful people despite exreme hardships, and people who were the closest I have seen to being true angels and saints on earth for their great love for others and God. These two experiences culminated in the art I make now.

Titled: Streams of Mercy

When I looked at the pieces of art Annie was selling, I wondered how she could ever part with one of her originals! From Annie: "There have been several paintings that have been really hard to part with - usually these paintings are at points where I made a breakthrough or realized something in the creation of a painting. I've had several paintings where the idea and composition of the painting came to me in a beauitful way, in a dream or as a sort of epiphany. The hardest painting for me to part with was "Streams of Mercy", mostly because I felt that I had created an image that had a depth of emotion I had not been able to create before.

Now, down to the exciting giveaway .....

Annie is providing a large autographed print of the above image, "Tender Mercies" on artistic watercolor paper, valued at $64.99. And (to prove what a sweet heart Annie has) she will ship ANYWHERE ... which means all of you wonderful over-seas bloggers: you're in on this giveaway!!

To Enter: