Shropshire artist Ann Easthope finds inspiration in flowers - from the wild to cultivated varieties. Even the humble dandelion has become a subject for her vibrant, colourful style and earned her an award at the Oswestry & Shropshire Open Art Exhibition in 2010.

Her sketch book and camera go with her whenever she is out, even when taking her faithful old dog Sam for his daily walks, “just in case I spot anything,”
says Ann.

Ann finds it difficult to remember an occasion when she has not been involved in art -
from primary school to Gloucestershire College of Art, from being head of art at the
Priory Girls’ School in Shrewsbury to being an art instructor for the Shropshire Youth Service and finally setting up the creative therapy departments at
Severn Hospice’s units in Shrewsbury and Telford.

When at last she retired in 2008 she returned to her main passion of painting and set up her own studio at her home in Wellington.

Since then Ann’s work, which she describes as modern impression based for the most
part on a floral theme, has been in demand and her style is instantly recognisable.
She has undertaken several commissions and her paintings now hang in several parts of
the world, from the Norwegian Arctic Circle to Australia and from Japan to Chicago.