Anca Reid

Paintings created by Anca Reid evolve with passion and are influenced by her extensive travels throughout Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Her paintings allow her an escape from reality and to create something from a place in her mind by blending together travel memories and the surrounding beauty.

Born and raised on the Black Sea Coast in Romania, the artist currently resides with her husband and their daughter on the coast of the Bay of Fundy in Canada.

The strong connection to nature, earth and sea can be seen in Anca’s paintings though the diverse landscapes of fishing harbours and the peaceful countryside that carry you through communities shaped by the sea.

Drawn to the rural maritime landscape with rugged, rocky coastlines and the beautiful sandy beaches of the Black Sea Coast, her seascapes capture many moods from crashing waves and colourful coastal wild flowers, to vast calm waters, fiery sunsets reflecting onto the wet sand, the joy of sunrise and the luminous glow of the moonlight through a cresting wave. “Painting moving water is not just painting what’s there, but also what’s about to happen. This is the most exciting part for me.”

The ever-changing nature of the seaside provides the artist with endless inspiration.

The artist is comfortable painting in oil, acrylic and watercolour and she seems to be appreciated in all three mediums.

In 2018 the artist started the palette knives textural flowers collection, characterized by their spontaneity and freshness.

The sketches are loose and just enough to establish shapes which is just enough for the start point. This allows the artist to relax and paint freely and intuitively.

The artist celebrates the beauty of a bouquet of flowers in a mason jar, a glass or a vase with rich texture and saturated, bold colours.

Many artists make still-life flower paintings, but few reveal them like she does.

The artist wants the paintings to look like paintings, not like photography. Her approach involves the viewer as there is always something unique in each painting.

The artist says that what connects each person to a painting is unpredictable. "Sometimes it is because it reminds them of someone or something, sometimes it's the fragrance of the specific flowers and sometimes it's simply someone's name and when the viewer projects themselves into the artwork, I feel my goal is achieved".

There is a lot of positive energy, freshness and excitement in Anca's joyful and colourful flowers with thick texture.

“I try not to paint what I see, but rather be inspired by it, weather I look at a picture or paint from life”.

She uses several layers to achieve the depth of the flowers which one could pick right off the canvas, while making each knife stroke look effortlessly and spontaneous.

Anca's goal is not to obscure entirely the under-painting but to leave some showing through. When too much of the under-painting is lost, sometimes this involves scraping off some areas of the painting to reveal again the under-painting.

The beauty of imperfection in her colourful and joyful flower paintings best represents the artist's spontaneous, out-going, optimistic and delightful personality.

Her bold use of colour is what attracts the attention first in all her works.

The change in colour temperature in her paintings came subsequent to the pandemic of 2020 feeling the need for warmer, brighter and bolder colours as comfort to overcome the stressful times.

"When you are happy you enjoy bright colours, when you are down you understand them", the artist says.

Anca's paintings can be found in private collections around the world. Her work has garnered her numerous awards and a strong social media following.