10/17/2007

Getting to Know Ann Ashman
By Dolores E. Pike

If you do nothing else in the next few days, treat yourself to a visit to the Ocean Pines Sports Core pool, admire the new facility and then feast your eyes on the mural that Ann Ashman is painting on the solid entry wall leading into the pool area.

"Everyone who comes in and sees the wall loves it.  The little ones walk in, turn around and say 'Wow.' I just had a little girl about four years old who wanted to sit there and watch me paint," said Ann, smiling and adding, "I think she really wanted to help me."

According to Ann, owner of Brushstokes in Berlin, the mural depicts a vision of Atlantis, complete with Greek columns, marine life and colorful flowers. "This (mural) is different, very challenging.  Because you want to see the top of the water, you want it to have depth, you want the pillars underwater to look wet, not like they are on land.  I think the challenge is the shape of the pool wall itself where there are doors, a phone and intake vents. Working all that in, to make it disappear is the challenge," said Ann, who took a few art classes but is basically self-taught.

When asked about the origin of the design Ann said it is loosely based on a puzzle she bought while on vacation this summer in Tennessee. She had always wanted to do an Atlantis theme and there were some hotels in Ocean City that were mulling over the idea. But at that time there was no firm commitment from any client. 

When she was contacted by Ocean Pines Association (OPA) Director of Public Works Kerry Nelson he spoke about the people who would be using the pool, like the Swimmin Wimmin  and the Hammerheads Swim Team.  He also outlined the final decorating touches, which will include palm trees.  With all this as background information Ann went ahead with the Atlantis theme.

Mr. Nelson was impressed by Ann's work, which he had seen at the Francis Scott Key Motel's pool in West Ocean City.  Her mural there depicts a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme, stretching over walls that encompass an area twice the size of what she is working on at the Ocean Pines pool. 

After receiving her commission from the OPA, Ann began painting, ably aided by Brian Waggoner who offered his assistance.  They work in the evenings generally for four or five hours.  "I like to work after hours, after the swimmers have gone. It is nice and quiet with no echo and easier to concentrate.  You get a better product when you can think and step back and look at it," said Ann, adding that she expects the project to take between three and four weeks to complete.

Ann has been painting murals full time for 10 years.  Her work can be seen around town, starting with the approach into Berlin where the wall of Boomers Restaurant features a sepia tone mural depicting turn of the century Main Street.  Ann said she was commissioned by the Taylor House Museum beautification committee which wanted to "bring the art to the streets of Berlin."

She has done murals in the banquet rooms of two of the Dough Roller Restaurants and the pool area at Glenn Riddle where the scene is reminiscent of the bygone era of Riddle Farms.  Ann does murals for private homes and condos.  Depending on the area to be covered, the complexity of the picture and whether scaffolding is needed, her murals cost anywhere from approximately $200 to $5,000.

When asked if she had decorated any of the walls in her home in Berlin, where she and her husband Pat Scanlon reside with their children, she said not directly.  It seems one of her daughters portrayed Wendy in a middle school production of "Peter Pan."  Ann painted the scenery on Luan which the school was going to toss after the show closed.  Ann rescued the Luan and attached it to the walls in her son's room.

She does smaller items and furniture painting.  She just finished painting some chairs with lighthouses, seashells and sandpipers but says that murals constitute 90 percent of her business.

According to OPA General Manager Tom Olson the mural at the Sports Core pool is being funded by generous donations from the business community, a drive spearheaded by long time resident and local contractor Marvin Steen.