Biography
Although Annie McCoy loved art and painting in high school, her parents considered a career in art too risky. Thus, she pursued her other interest and became a veterinarian. In 2007, she decided to become an artist as well.
Plein air painting has allowed her to combine her love of the outdoors, nature and art. Driven by her love of wild places and the adventures therein, Annie paints outdoors at every opportunity. Studio work is mostly reserved for inclement weather and winter.
She explains, “I am a home-grown Appalachian mountain girl who relishes her time in the wild. My hope is that I do justice in my tributes to our creator. Drawn to nature, its best and worst, I strive to capture my emotional response to being outdoors in beautiful places”.
Having retired from veterinary medicine, Annie moved from the Chesapeake Bay to southwest Montana. Prior to retirement, she would spend several weeks each year in Montana and in nearby Yellowstone Park.
Following her fly-fishing husband to trout filled streams fueled her experiences as a plein air artist. She focuses on sportsman’s art, wildlife and landscapes.
“My husband is a dedicated fly fisherman, and fortunately, as the great artist and fly-fisherman Frank Dumond noted, ‘Trout only live in beautiful places’. I accompany my husband, and while he fishes, I paint and enjoy the moment. Sometimes, if the fish aren’t biting, I am forced to pack up and move on to finish the painting later in the studio.
"I do not consider myself an Alla Prima painter, but instead, I consider myself an outdoor painter. I like will return again and again to the same location in order to complete a painting.”
While having no formal art training, Annie has had the great fortune to experience workshops with many of America's premier landscape artists including Dan Young, Scott Christensen, Ralph Oberg, Jane Jones, Barbara Nuss, Ed Cooper, Heiner Hertling, Peter Fiore, Skip Whitcomb, Kathy Wipfler, Matt Smith, Roger Dale Brown, Susan Blackwood, Howard Friedland, Greg Scheibel and Albert Handell. She continues to study with accomplished artists whenever possible.
Annie’s mentors include the sports celebrity portrait painter, George Wright, known for his Norman Rockwell flavored paintings, Nancy Tankersley, nationally known plein air and figurative painter, and Laura Era, portrait artist and owner of Troika Gallery in Easton, MD.
Memberships
• Oil Painters of America
• Outdoor Painters Society
• American Women Artists
• Women Artists of the West
• Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Association
• Chesapeake Plein Air Painters
• Cider Painters of America Miniature Society
Events
• Harford County Plein Air, 2016
• Burgwin-Wright House Plein Air 2016, People’s Choice Award
• Camp Hill Plein Air, 2015
• Solo exhibition, Main Street Gallery, 2015
• Solo exhibition, Frame of Mine, 2014
• Dorchester Center for the Arts, 2010, People’s Choice Award,
