Anne Hempel has lived in Tallahassee, Florida most of her life. She started dabbling with painting furniture six years ago for part time work. She has been in education for 11 years as a reading tutor, an elementary classroom teacher, a teacher of English in Japan. Recently, she decided to leave education to pursue decorative painting as a full-time occupation. She was born in Lexington, Kentucky where her grandmother, who is also an artist, still resides.