Amy Huddleston studied Art at the University of Montana from 1982 to 1983 and was discouraged by her professors, in regard to focusing on realism. She dropped out and moved to Seattle in 1984 to study at the Art Institute of Seattle, where she was introduced to the work of Vuillard and Bonnard via William Cumming. Though she was still encouraged to avoid realism, she was taught the importance of design, and how color relationships worked in painting. Huddleston left AIS to focus on painting. While she continued to paint along the lines of the Nabis philosophy, as interpreted via Cumming; with frequent visits to his studio with fellow former AIS students, Huddleston continued studying realism independently, finding most influential the works of, Uglow and Coldstream, as well as innumerable contemporary painters.Currently Huddleston's focus is on realism, particularly on creating accurate locations based on what is being observed (generally photos, but not always) and then allowing the inaccurate things that we think we see, based on our own faulty perception, to intervene. http://www.amyhuddleston.com