Anna Sandhu Ray

Anna Sandhu Ray

Hi my name is Anna. I was born in the Unicoi Mountains of Virginia. I began painting at five. My mother always critiqued my work, which drove me to always do better. I was a sketch artist for CBS and was involved in the Snail Darter Trial, which lead to me handling the James Earl Ray Brushy Mountain Prison escape trial. I assisted Steve Oglesby by sketching James Earl Ray for his documentary 'Ray, the Man'. James Earl and I shared a similar interest in art, which ended in my Friday the 13th marriage to James Earl, my husband for 14 years. James Earl was accused of murdering Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. Being involved with James Earl Ray ended in my being afraid for my life, and I went into hiding for many years. In this time I found myself falling deep into depression and found myself painting for many hours per day to keep what sanity I had left.

Originally, I did a lot of landscape art and sketches of people. My grandmother always wanted me to do floral paintings, but it wasn't until after her death that I acquired the capabilities of doing florals. My paintings are currently done with Acrylic Liquitex heavy body paint. It looks like oil, but is even more durable, I always use this on canvas. My painting starts with a pen and ink, then ink washed with pastel highlights as well as what I call 'controlled splattering'. This allows me to use many different colored spots with a brush, to give a soft, yet colorful impression of scenic features. This gives my art a stained glass type of look, which leads the viewer to imagine it's a place they would like to go. I have used watercolor, pen and ink, oil, pastels(chalk), and acrylic. I was born in 1946, and have continued to paint throughout my life.



Anna Sandhu Ray.

Anna Sandhu Ray joined Pixels on March 20th, 2013.