Ann Bishop McGregor was born and raised near Bondurant, Iowa. She attended Bondurant-Farrar Schools and later graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design. Following college, she was art director for a Waterloo advertising agency. She has had her work published on several Wallaces Farmer Magazine covers, on calendar covers for a national insurance company, and has had sign/numbered prints of her work released through an Iowa seed company. She now sells original works as well as self-publishes prints and cards of her paintings. Her paintings hang in many private collections in Iowa, other states, and even a few foreign countries.

She was privileged to study under a variety of artists including Jeanette Ahern, Mary Muller, Stewart Buck, and Maxine Pendry. These instructors were instrumental in helping introduce her to classic Old Masters’ techniques as well as other methods of realism in painting. In addition, she has done much study on her own visiting art museums, reading extensively, and participating in workshops to learn improved painting techniques. She seeks the sublime in her paintings, striving to show beauty, truth, and goodness through her work.

Ann tries to emulate the oil painting style of the old European masters such as Vermeer and Rembrandt. Paintings by Gerome and Bouguereau also serve as inspirations in her work. She is quite partial to some of the first “light” painters who were considered part of the Hudson River School of artists such as Church, Bierstadt, Kensett, and Gifford. She loves to see all these artists’ works firsthand whenever she can and continually strives to improve to become a better artist.

A signature member of the Iowa Pastel Society, and currently working primarily in soft pastel, she uses her past experience with oil painting to influence her work. In soft pastel she works “dark to light” using soft pastel sticks, pencils, and Pan Pastels instead of brushes and paints. Working with pure pigment applied to paper has been an exciting new challenge. Her goal with all of her work is to capture the beauty and wonder of God’s creation and to help viewers see that beauty.

Ann is married to Steve and they are the parents of three grown children and six grandchildren. They make their home in Northeast Iowa.