Born Anna Mary Robertson in Washington Co. New York, "Grandma" Moses left home when she was 12  to earn her living as a hired girl. She was married to Thomas Moses in 1887 (age 27) and always lived on a farm.  Even with ten children; she started a butter business of her own, working from sun-up to sun-down. When churning butter on the porch, she watched trains moving through valley and thought, "How I wished I could paint a picture of it."

She started making pictures when she was in her 70s and could no longer do much housework.  Some of best were in yarn.  (She had more experience sewing than painting.)  But when arthritis crippled her fingers, a paint brush became easier to hold than a needle.

She taught herself using old pieces of canvas and ordinary house paint. Her first subjects were from old prints and greeting cards. Then ideas came from her own life, including memories of sleigh rides, turkey dinners, country fairs, plowing, harvesting and apple picking.

A local druggist (Hoosick Falls, NY) displayed some of her paintings in a front window where they were discovered in 1938 by New York City art collector. He wanted to meet the artist the next day. She didn't sleep much that night; by morning she was working on two new paintings from and old one she had cut in half. When the collector arrived she had 10 pictures to show him. He bought them all and, before long, her paintings were being shown in famous galleries and museums in New York City.

FOLK ART: feeling makes up for lack of technique and training.

Designs in her paintings spread out like the pattern in a beautiful old quilt.

She didn't paint a scene directly from life; she studied colors and shadows she saw outdoors, often getting ideas when sitting on the porch. She would go upstairs and sit before an old pine table in a large sunny room full of plants.

"Grandma" Moses first found a frame then sawed a Masonite board to fit it. Then she began to prepare the board (or in some cases a canvas) propped up on a Montgomery Ward catalogue.  She was liberal with linseed oil, followed by three coats of flat white paint to cover up darkness of board. "Then you don't have to put on so much of the colored paint" (which is more expensive).

"Painting is a pleasant hobby...I like to take my time and finish things up right. When I first commenced to paint with oil, I thought every painting would be my last one, so I was not so interested. Then the requests came."

"(I) always (paint) something pleasing and cheerful. I like bright colors and activity."

"If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens."