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Santa Paula Art Museum — Inbox Art Exhibit: Anne Ward’s ‘Painted Seasons’

by Community Contributor • June 11, 2025 • Comments Off

“Late Spring” by Anne Ward, 2023, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches, Available for purchase.

Anne Ward’s

“Painted Seasons”

On view now through July 6, 2025

Anne Ward grew up in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles, wanting to be an artist. She was always painting and drawing and was given her first set of oil paints by her Aunt Peg at age 13. After completing a degree in history at UCLA, Ward went to work as an assistant to the director on films like “Wyatt Earp” and “French Kiss.” While working in France, Anne discovered the thrill of painting outdoors and returned home fully devoted to the pursuit of painting.

Primarily self-taught, Ward has been painting and exhibiting for the past 30 years. In the early days, when her children were small, she painted in her kitchen while her family slept, and sketched while waiting in the school pickup line. Around 2009, Anne began using an iPad and the Procreate app as a fundamental tool in her daily practice. Acting as a veritable “studio tucked in her purse,” the iPad enables Ward to experiment and work through ideas before she paints with oils or, more recently, acrylic.

Anne sees the world in terms of light, shape, color, and pattern. A successful painting balances all four elements in a way that resonates with calm, joy, and hope. Today Anne paints primarily in her garden in Ojai, where she and her husband, the writer and painter Ian Roberts, settled in 2023. She loves growing food and flowers and often plants things with the thought of what will make a good painting. Tending to and painting her garden roots Anne in the present moment and quiets the noise of her overactive mind.

The garden also helps Ward reconcile and appreciate the inevitability of the changing seasons, whether it is light shifting over the course of a day; the transition from the greens of spring to the yellows of summer; or the transformative period in life that comes after loss. The titles of her works often reference the time of day, or year, or life. Ultimately, the art of Anne Ward is about embracing the “season of now” and recognizing what is lost, what is gained, and what will bloom again.

While we recommend visiting “Painted Seasons” in person, enjoy this abbreviated look at the exhibition in your inbox. You can also head over to Anne’s website to browse all of the artworks!