Irish born Ann Bourke has resided for the past twenty years along with her family in Granada, the Alhambra city, in the south of  Spain. Her artwork speaks for itself and is a pictorial reflection of her well-traveled life.

The subject matter and media of Ann’s work are as varied as her horizons. Over the past 11 years working with oils, acrylics, watercolour, and pastel, different phases of her painting have covered still life, portraits, and landscapes from different countries. The artist has an African work career spanning 30 years (mainly with GOAL, the Dublin based sports enthusiasts’ NGO - www.GOAL.ie). The experience of working in various African countries, along with the beauty of her native Ireland and the brightness of Southern Spain, provide ongoing artistic inspiration. Her more recent work concentrates on the chiaroscuro and emotional response to an intriguing Africa that is very close to her heart.

Ann is primarily a self-taught artist who endeavours to define her observation of life with her interpretation of glimpses worth capturing for posterity. Ann believes that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and her paintings attempt to communicate emotionally and sensitively with the viewers. She has worked alongside a number of mentors mainly through the Cultural Centre in Albolote, Granada and especially with the late José Manuel Cañaveral de la Paz. For the past few years she is an active member of the Andalucian Association of Watercolourists.

Over her relatively short artistic career, Ann has participated in numerous collective exhibitions in Ireland and Spain. She has had two solo exhibitions in Granada. The success of these stimulated an adjustment in her artistic direction and encouraged a more focused direction to capture pictorial glimpses of her African work experience.

Ann has established the “Artistic Academy of Villas Blancas” where a group of Granadian artists with a shared ‘need’ to paint come together on a regular basis. Using group critical appraisal and sharing knowledge to improve artistic standards the artists also organise visits to galleries and exhibitions.

The artist also works on commissions for selected clients. Private viewings of available works for sale can be arranged at her home in Granada. You can contact Ann directly, through the contacts page, for quotations, comments, consultation and commissions.