On return to the U.K. at the age of sixteen Anna-Marie joined a graphic design studio. She devoted much of her spare time to developing her watercolour skills with book illustrations being her ultimate goal. This was a formative time, not only in laying the foundation of her artistic career, but also in her return to the romantic landscape of the New Forest which serviced to galvanize her long interest in history and legend. The ancient woodlands of the New Forest would later appear in her art, helping to create the atmosphere of old, damp, enchantment for which she would become known. Anna-Marie is a self-taught artist whose passion for history and legend led her to paint and later write about its characters and dramas. Over the years her paintings of these classical subjects have served as both book illustration and works of art exhibited in museums and sold through galleries. 1995 marked the release of the first publication that Anna-Marie both wrote and illustrated whilst in her early twenties - Legend the Arthurian Tarot and its accompanying book A Keeper of Words. The work received critical acclaim, bringing international exposure and the coveted contract of illustrating Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. She became the first woman to illustrate this great classic and takes her place in a list of Malorian illustrators which includes such great names as Aubrey Beardsley, Sir W. R. Flint and Arthur Rackham, N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle in adaptations of the text. With her latest title Anna-Marie returns to Llewellyn Publications - the house to first publish her work Legend. The Llewellyn Tarot is a special commemorative project of deck and book which draws upon rich, lesser known Welsh mythology in deference to the Welsh roots of the publisher. Anna-Marie is a member of the International Arthurian Society, Pendragon Society and Society of Illustrators NY. |
