Carolyn Allen
Art has been central to my creative life from early childhood when I carefully saved the charcoal from our family wiener roasts of grapevines each fall. Charcoal drawings were my earliest ventures into art. Since then I've passed through numerous creative phases... from oil painting, to original etchings, to acrylics and watercolors, colored pencils, screenprinting, digital drawing and painting and again I'm choosing acrylic, mixed media and digital painting. I believe the message is central to a creative body of work... and my body of work is centered on nature. Understanding, learning from and enjoying the endless variety and beautiful colors, shapes, designs and vitality of natural landscapes, water and intimate studies of creatures. My art centers of issues of the day from what we love and admire, to how we survive in the wilderness in which we live... to how we are remolding the natural world. I hope you enjoy the stories behind my work and learn to appreciate nature in ever widening circles of awareness and understanding.
I spent more than twenty years as a graphic designer and creative director of our family owned high tech advertising and marketing agency. I launched and wrote more than 5,000 pages about sustainability on my "solutions for green" websites, and I'm now semi-retired and building ... I think it is a third career :-) ... as a fine artist and writer. Life continues to thrive and evolve. I invite you to walk beside me and help explore our wondrous world!
I grew up in Arkansas, lived for more than a decade in each of North Carolyn, Oklahoma and California... and now reside in Southern California in a very urban suburb of Los Angeles. I garden, help maintain my partner's family property (which includes a grape vineyard, fruit trees, and many, many kinds of flowering landscape plants), and take discovery trips into the wilds and natural parks as often as possible. I'll share some of the majesty and beauty with you through my photography and art.
I'm not much into competition, as one of six children I was very competitive as a child, but took a personal vow to emphasize cooperation as I grew into my own as a young adult. Since that time I've learned that life is a balance of cooperation and competition, so who knows what the future will hold, but I still prefer to cooperate and share what we learn with one another than compete for prizes and awards. That works for some people... but not me.
I grew up in Arkansas with the fear of not completing high school since my father was against education for religious and philosophical reasons. But I did finish high school... and was determined to get a college education. After 15 years, 6 colleges and universities and countless jobs that paid for that education, I receive a B.A. from Oklahoma State University in Humanities. I studied about philosophy and the arts of Europe, the Native Americans and the Chinese... and I have recently been traveling to many of those locations to learn first hand what I knew only in books. My travels will be woven into my art and writing.... stay tuned! :-)