Addren Doss
"I would like the viewer to feel a part of the landscape or as if they could reach out and touch my animals."

Addren Doss creates representational light filled landscapes and intimate portraits of beloved pets with bold, vibrant strokes of oil and pastel.  Her goal is to engage viewers emotionally.  She would like the viewer to feel a part of the landscape or as if they could reach out and touch her animals.  For Addren, plein air painting is about recording her emotional reaction to a specific place at a specific time of day.  The studio paintings that come from that experience are an extension of the intense feelings and reactions she had when painting outside. 

Addren Doss, a native of Atlanta, Georgia has been "making art" most of her adult life.  She spent the first 20 years of her career as a graphic designer doing corporate and freelance work.  After moving to North Carolina in 1978 she began to experiment with her true passion, drawing and painting.

Pastel was Addren's medium of choice for many years and plein air painting was discovered while taking a workshop in Texas.  She found a real joy in being outside with all the sounds of nature and an occasional buffalo or alligator. While working in pastel Addren entered a mentoring program with noted painter, Albert Handell and studied with him and his wife, Anita Louise West, for eight years.  During this time she painted with them and on her own in many different locations across the country.  This has been a major influence on her work in terms of color palette and strong value patterns.  She also began working on location and in the studio in oil, which is now her medium of choice.  Her oil paintings are richly textured and filled with glowing light and strong colors.  An important part of the "making art" process for Addren is her ability to communicate with the viewer of the painting.  She recently said, "I want you to feel the sun on your skin and the breeze on your face when you look at my paintings."

Addren is an Associate Member of Oil Painters of America, an Associate Member of Women Artists of the West, a founding member of the Piedmont Outdoor Painting Society, and a member of the Pastel Society of North Carolina  Her work can be found in many private and corporate collections across the country and internationally.