Profile: Painter Annika Connor

				Annika Connor’s decadent and romantic watercolors are youthful, feminine, and idealistic fantasies of beauty. The Swedish-American artist is at home in New York City balancing life as an entrepreneur, artist, and socialite. She founded AI Productions, which produces art-related events and publications. When she’s not painting, she can be found hosting panel discussions on the art market, throwing her annual January birthday pool party, or making appearances on Gossip Girl. Her group show Opulent Vision is now on view at fordPROJECT.
				I just finished a new painting of a coral reef with fish underwater that I am super happy with. Today I am varnishing it, [and] trying to figure out what to do next on the barracuda painting I am working on.
				Beauty.
				Whenever I finish a new painting that I think is especially good, I fall a little in love with it. I often get the feeling that I have just made something better than everything before it. Before the varnish goes on, I am tortured and obsessively working on it, but when I varnish it, I can no longer make changes and that’s when I can really, truly see the piece. The pride I feel then is rare and special and why I keep painting.
				Exploring daydreams and memories.
				I mostly look to the past for inspiration. I think that is one of the best and most magical qualities in the power of paint. In a world full of words, I love how quiet and sensual looking at a great painting can be. Some of the people from the past who speak to me the most often are Sargent, Waterhouse, Whistler, Fragonard, Millais, Mucha, Rembrandt, Ingres, Zorn, and Carl Larsson. Among the contemporary artists who inspire and I admire are Tim Gardner, Alex Katz and David Hockney.
				I lived in London in 2003 and 2004 and loved it. The museums are amazing there, and the city itself is such a place of inspiration and quiet reflection. But I wouldn’t want to be any place other then where I am right now.
				A ski and snowboard instructor.
				Productive insomnia and my coffee addiction.
				Visit Annika Connor… Annika Connor www.annikaconnor.com twitter.com/AnnikaConnor facebook.com/AnnikaConnorArtist Active Ideas Productions www.aiproductions.org twitter.com/ActiveIdea facebook.com/ActiveIdeasProductions