After having studied art history and fine art at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, and then at Strasbourg University in France, I trained as a painting restorer at the Institut für Technologie der Malerie in Stuttgart, Germany, becoming Diplom Restorator in 1978. I was Assistant to the Director at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge from 1978 to 2007 where I was a painting restorer and taught painting restoration. I edited several books for the Hamilton Kerr Institute mainly on the history of European painting materials and techniques and wrote my own book on the restoration of paintings in France in the eighteenth century before I began developing my own artistic interests. (Painting Restoration before 'La Restauration': The Origins of the Profession in France, 2012) I travelled to China in 1986 and began painting with Chinese ink and watercolour shortly thereafter. I also do printmaking and my work can be viewed on my website annmassing.com