Amanda Allen is an artist in Melville who has loved art since childhood and now is beginning to explore that love in more detail.
“I started drawing at a young age, probably when I was in Grade 2, I would say,” said Allen now 39.
“It started with just drawing title pages for school projects and reports to earn extra marks.
“Around Grade 7 and 8, I started looking at photographs out of teen magazines usually and I would draw portrait drawings freehand from what I saw in the photographs.”
Allen, who was born and raised in Parry Sound, Ontario, and grew up in that area with two older brothers, said art was in some ways her place to escape and be herself as a youth.
“I was a quiet, shy young lady, so when I wasn't at school or hanging out with my brothers or doing homework, I was usually drawing,” she told Yorkton This Week. “I had asthma, so I wasn't a very active youth.”
And the art became something Allen said she could afford to share.
“As a kid, I never had very much money, so I would give my drawings away as a gift to family,” she said.
Interestingly, her early enjoyment of painting did not extend to art class in school.
“When I started High School in Parry Sound, I took Grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 art classes. I am not going to lie; I hated Art History,” she said. “I just wanted to draw. In art class we learned a very small amount about painting.”
And Allen said while she continued to like drawing, painting was not something she really explored past school.
“I never knew what I was doing and didn't really enjoy painting,” she said.
Then in her late teens Allen went on the road.
“I was 18-years-old when I decided to go on a road trip that ended here in Melville,” she said.
Once in Melville, life got in the way of art for a time.
“In 2004, I had my first daughter and my second daughter in 2012. I didn't spend much time doing any artwork because I just became busy with being a mom and working full time,” she said.
But, as life slowed a little Allen found the spark for art reigniting.
“When I was 28-years-old, I decided I was going to try painting, so there was a lot of trial and error and experimenting,” she related.
But Allen added she found joy in the experimentation.
“It was fun learning about painting and how paint moves, how it dries differently compared to other paints and different brush techniques,” she said, adding the discovery fostered a new appreciation of the art form. “I do love painting now.
“Besides art classes in High School, I have no professional training. I do learn a lot from Youtube videos on different styles and mediums.”
Being relative new to the paintbrush, Allen has not committed to a single style or medium just yet.
“I don't have any particular style, but whatever I paint usually has bold eye- popping colour,” she said. “I like artwork to really stand out in a room.”
And she added, “I still love doing portraits as well.”
So what fires Allen to take up a brush to do a piece?
“What inspires my artwork? Probably my mood at any given moment and just my attraction to bold colour,” she said, adding she is “...very young at heart...a bit of a goofball. I love to laugh and I love to make people laugh,” attributes that can be reflected in her works.
“I also love a bold black and white combo. I don't usually draw animals or full landscape pictures. I like surrealism.”
While Allen has a growing portfolio, she noted “art is more of a hobby for me. I have sold most of my artwork or gave it away as gifts.
“I have done a few commissioned pieces but I feel for myself it can take the fun and excitement out of using my own imagination in creating a piece of art.
“I like to sit down with an idea and just let everything else flow.”
Allen said making money as an artist is something high school art classes simply do not teach.
“I wish in high school, that they would teach about how the students can earn income with their talents,” she said. “They don't teach about that, at least not when I was in school.
“We never even went to a single gallery to learn how to show your work.
“If you don't learn about ways to sell or the buying market etc., then how do you know if it is something you would want to spend thousands of dollars going to university for?”
Fortunately, there are now options to learning such things.
“Things are a lot different now than when I was nearing the end of high school. There wasn't social media like now,” said Allen. “As a teenager I really didn't think I could make a living just selling art, so I just entered the work force.
“Then busy life happens.”
But, you get the sense Allen wishes art were less hobby and more career.
“Although I don't create art as a career, and although I don't create art frequently, I still love creating art.
“And, I still love sharing it.
“Maybe it can inspire someone somewhere.
“Also, I don't have to pay to decorate my wall space.”
The love of art is something she is pleased she has seemed to pass on to the next generation.
“Both my daughters have interest in drawing and creating and are great young artists,” she said.
While Allen does not have a business page for her art she does have an Instagram account that will have photographs of some of her artwork (@amandamaytoday)
