Paint By The Ocean
Annette Sykes, Soft pastel, oil and watercolor painting, Room 403AB
@paintbytheocean
paintbytheocean.com
Annette Sykes is a Massachusetts-based observational artist working in a variety of traditional painting and drawing media. Her work is rooted in direct observation and inspired by the landscapes, changing light, and everyday places of Boston’s North Shore.
Sykes is particularly drawn to the experience of being present in a place—watching light shift across water, noticing unexpected color, or finding beauty in familiar surroundings. Her subjects include the beaches, harbors, streets, and coastal landscapes of Lynn, Nahant, Salem, Marblehead, and Gloucester, as well as still lifes and objects collected through years of antiquing with her husband.
Sykes earned her MFA from California College of the Arts and completed post-baccalaureate study at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. After a long career in education and community arts leadership, she has returned her focus increasingly to her own studio practice, plein air painting, and teaching.
Her work has been exhibited throughout the North Shore. In 2026, she presented her solo exhibition, Antiquing with Bob, at the Marblehead Arts Association and received a Juror’s Choice Award in the association’s Summer Exhibition. She also received an Honorable Mention from Cape Ann Plein Air in 2026.
Sykes' studio is on the 4th floor in the historic Lydia Pinkham Building in Lynn, Massachusetts.
