Featured Artist Annette Hassell

Artist Annette Hassell’s artwork invites viewers into a world of folklore, fantasy, and visual storytelling. See more of her portfolio by visiting her website.

 

 

I come from the magical, spooky city of New Orleans. Growing up I was happiest keeping to myself. Books felt like food to me, and I would read fairy tales, folktales and fables pretty much constantly.

 

 

The illustrations of the stories in these books were pure inspiration, and before long I started trying to copy the beautiful work of master illustrators like Rackham and Dulac. As a result, my drawing skills took a huge leap forward and I became determined to be an artist myself.

 

 

When the time came, I attended the University of New Orleans, where I got a BA degree. Then I pretty much immediately got a job painting Mardi Gras floats. This was a fairly demanding job to have, but I loved doing it. I had a paintbrush in my hand almost every single day. Because of that, I feel like I really got to hone my painting skills.

 

 

During the next chapter of my life, I moved to Los Angeles. Here I began working as a scenic artist/set painter. I painted backdrops and sets for theater, tv shows, commercials, videos and theme park rides. I felt lucky to be able to continue to make my living through painting, but the work was becoming less and less rewarding as time went on, and I was ready to move on.

 

 

So I did, and now I’ve made it to the last chapter. I’m retired, it’s blissful, and I can paint whatever I want. I feel like I’ve really come full circle, in that what I most want to paint are narrative, illustrative paintings that tell a story. So that’s what I do.

 

 

I’m still inspired by the illustrators that I admired so much when I was a kid. But it’s a pure joy to be able to look online and see the amazing artwork of creators worldwide (yeah, there was no internet when I was a kid), and that’s a huge and constant inspiration to me.

 

 

I’ve always worked mostly in acrylics. Water based paints were what I used for Mardi Gras floats, and they’re used on backdrops and sets so I’ve amassed a lot of experience and am comfortable with them. I’ve taken up pastels fairly recently, and I am really enjoying learning how to use them. I find that they are wonderful for portraits, and I’m hoping to dive a bit deeper into those soon.

 

 

Anyway, I remain grateful to be free to continue painting my world as I see it—colorful, magical, whimsical and full of stories.

 

Annette Hassell invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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