The Adventure so Far...an Introduction!

Primary Study -  Still Life - Acrylic on Canvas
This is a study I decided to do using only the 3 primary colors. I didn't mix any paints together on my palate, so any green, purple, or orange that you see was created by layering the paints after letting the previous layer dry. 

Well, Hello there...

My name is Allison, and I'm a recovering artist. What does that mean? I'll tell you. It means that I have gone over 10 years denying my drive and passion for art, for reasons that I'm currently figuring out. I'm now in "recovery" according to the book I'm reading called The Artist's Way.

Sketch I did of Devon Sawa, 6th
or 7th grade.

Back in the Day...

Sketch I did in 8th grade, Portrait
of Jonathan Taylor-Thomas. This
was my last portrait before I
started High School.

In middle school, and even before that, I loved to draw. And I could do
portraits pretty well for a 6th grader. Of course my focus was on the teen heartthrobs of my adolescence. Although, there are a couple sketches of the girls that I admired, there are a few portraits floating around of Devon Sawa and Jonathan Taylor-Thomas... >_>

As you can see in the pictures flanking my writing, I didn't quite understand the technique of shading and had some hard lines just about everywhere. But I had fun and gave some of the pictures to my friends. In fact one of my best friends from high school still has her Devon Sawa portrait I drew for her birthday.

Christina Ricci

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt,
sketch from 6th or 7th grade.

Anyway, these portraits are what really started my interest in art, but unfortunately, when it came time to start high school, art seemed to drop off the radar. Band, Theatre, boyfriends, and just the shear social jungle that is high school became more important or a distraction. Sure, I drew here and there, but for some reason trading in Theatre Arts for Studio Art classes just never crossed my mind. I should have done that after the fiasco that was my theatre teacher at the time. But I had convinced myself that was where I wanted to be along with my commitment to playing the saxophone in band. Not that theatre wasn't fun, but for the next three years I think the universe was trying to tell me that I was taking the long way, a detour, to an ultimate goal. I endured the "crazy" theatre teacher(she was fired after my freshman year), a good teacher getting fired for being good(don't ask me how that works), and then a theatre teacher that couldn't have cared less about the upperclassmen and played favorites. Not that I'm complaining, them's just the facts, and I believe now that they were signs that I was in the wrong place. Thing is, I can be a bit, well...lets just say stubborn.

To be continued...