About the Artist
Annette Price
Abstract ArtistI am a London-based abstract artist, and I want to help you understand why I make art and the ideas and inspiration behind my paintings.
Inspiration
I've spent many years exploring rivers, lakes, seas, and canals by kayak and diving beneath their surfaces, and I've learned to see water differently.
Most people notice its surface beauty, but I've experienced it; in, on, and underwater. I've felt the peaceful beauty of exploring wild and inaccessible rivers, the terrifying power when a river flips you upside down in a kayak, and the otherworldly calm of suspended weightlessness while diving beneath the surface. Each perspective reveals something new: the play of light filtering down from above, the force of water pressing against your paddle, the way currents swirl and eddy around submerged rocks.
Water is never just one thing. It's the glitter of bioluminescent plankton on a night dive, the way autumn leaves dissolve their colours into a stream, the mirror of city lights in a rain puddle. It shapes everything it touches, carving through rock and soil, reflecting the world back at us in constantly shifting patterns.
My Process
I build my paintings in layers, starting with texture: texture paste or sand and gravel mixed with acrylic paint and applied with palette knives. Once that foundation dries, I work quickly with brushes loaded with colour, letting each painting develop organically on the canvas. Sometimes I add gold, silver, or copper leaf to catch the light, much like water does.
My process mirrors how I experience water itself, intuitive, physical, and always in motion.
Materials
My work is mixed-media, which means I use different artist materials in the same painting and this can include acrylic paints, sand, gravel and leaves, inks, pastels and objects found in the landscape.
Elemental Exhibition
Chelsea Gallery, Old Town Hall, Kings Road, London, SW3 5EE.
5th to the 17th of March 2024
I organised and exhibited in a group art exhibition titled Elemental
The exhibition featured the work of four female artists, each exploring our connection to the natural world through a variety of painting styles and techniques.
Elemental invited viewers into a visual dialogue with nature, as each piece reflected a unique response to the elemental forces that shape our environment. The exhibition celebrated both the power and the subtlety of nature, offering personal and emotive perspectives grounded in each artist’s lived experience.
Previous Life
Photographer
For many years I worked as an adventure sports and wild places photographer for editorial publications. My work ranged from the photography of wild locations such as caves and disused mines to white water rivers, water sports and underwater portraiture.
Exhibition
The River Within - London
Living in London, the River Thames has a special place in my heart and I’ve been kayaking on it regularly for 30 years. Before the pandemic, I had been working on a project to photograph the River Thames from source to sea from the perspective of a little kayak.
In 2019, 'The River Within - London' was my first solo exhibition and featured photographs of London that I had taken from my kayak as a part of that project. With a kayak, I can get underneath pontoons, bridges, up tributaries, between houseboats to see London from a perspective that few other people see it.
Artist Statement and Biography
If you would like to learn more about my work please take a look at: