Born and raised in the beautiful state of Maine, from a very young age, I exhibited a propensity for fine art, designing and drawing clothing for my paper dolls and pictures of this and that! In my early teens, I discovered I was quite good at sketching portraits of people, my very first being of the actor, Eric Estrada. But, it wasn't until I attended fine art classes at the University of Maine at Augusta that any artistic talent I was born with, really began blossoming, as I tell people. This is how it seemed to me, anyway. Majoring in the Fine Arts Associates Degree program, I had some fine instructors and my drawing instructor, in particular, was both an exceptional artist in his own right and an excellent instructor. I learned so much from the man, and felt as though he had handed me a tool box, filled with implements for refining what I already had. While attending his classes, I was introduced to the stippling technique and took to it, rather quickly and fondly. Although I explored various techniques, I preferred stippling over most other methods, and stayed with this technique, predominantly. Over the years, I have been commissioned to make many portraits for people, containing real life subject matter, such as: people, animals, bridges, buildings, boats, etc. For a time, I also did portraits of a handful of well-known musicians, such as: Jimi Hendrix, Gerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Frank Zappa. As a result, I sold many prints of these portraits at a few local business establishments, Bull Moose Music being one.
Approximately, five to six years ago, I discovered my love of abstract art, and wanted to try my hand at that. This was a new and challenging experience for me, as an artist I discovered. Rather than replicating what I looked at, I needed to learn how to allow my imagination to be let out of a box, and run free! It took a long time to get comfortable with this process and really learn to trust that those unusual images that came from within me, and landed on the paper, were 'good enough.' I believe that process was a matter of discovering another part of myself I hadn't tapped before. But, I was expanding and challenging myself, and wanted very much to create beautiful abstracts, so I stuck with it. Although I strayed for awhile from using the stippling technique, I have recently come back to implementing it into my abstract works and, as a result, I am no longer struggling with my own critical thoughts and high expectations. Every artist enjoys positive feedback, but I think it's also important to reach a place, where you are not so concerned with the approval from others. I found that caused me tremendous frustration and a lack of freedom that every artist needs, in order for some of their best work to come through.
There is just something about abstract art that excites my spirit and soul! I still enjoy making pieces involving real-to-life subjects, from time to time. But, these days, my real love really is with the abstract art. I love bright, visually stimulating color and expressing emotion, and the various phases I go through in my own life, in such a way that is visually detached from real life images. My artwork is a visual journal. I find abstract art to be a delightful form of self-expression and I am very glad I chose to pursue this particular genre of fine art. There is something very cool and fun about feeling as if you get to step into another world...the world of imagination...and come back with visions and objects that are not seen here!
Much of my artwork is symbolic, very much like the dreams we have while sleeping. For me personally, each abstract piece I create represents a phase in my own life. So, my abstracts are a visual journal. And, the colors I use 'tell a story,' just as much as anything else within them.
Kathleen Allen joined Pixels.com Licensing on November 12th, 2014.
