Adriance de Groff has been sculpting and painting for over twenty five years. The daughter of a highly creative, artistic mother and a well-known designer father, she was exposed to fine art, craft and design in many forms. “It is from this background that I have emerged with my paint brush.”
Primarily influenced by realism, she favors the works of two great British animal portrait painters – George Stubbs and Sir Edwin Landseer. The animal portraits that she specializes in reflect the unique 19th and 20th century style. A member of the Heritage Breeds Conservancy and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. De Groff is particularly interested in endangered domestic stock. Many of her paintings are of very rare barnyard animals in bucolic pastoral scenes. Her personal painting style combines this two hundred year old British influence with Early American folk art for a style you could call realistic folk art. She also will separate the two styles and paint photo realistic canvases or straight up folk art, depending on how she is inspired by her subject. Part of the magic of Adriance is her ability to connect to the “soul” of the animal. Commission clients have been consistently amazed at her ability to capture the essence of the personality of their livestock or pet. She has brought many to tears unveiling the finished pieces.
Lately Adriance has been drawn to “living still life” in the form of flowers or fruits. She has also been painting female portraits inspired by goddesses, Divas and the Madonna.
Her work ranges in size from two inch square miniatures to five by six foot canvases.
“Asking me why I paint is like asking why the ocean does what it does. It is what I am *designed* to do. It is an innate passion and I cannot stop.”