Making the Mark

Watercolor paintings by Gayle Allen • Exhibit runs from Oct 3 to Nov 26, 2022.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

As an artist I feel that painting with watercolor is magical and I love the way it makes me work with the paint and water. You can’t control watercolor, you have to work with it. I just get excited exploring new areas in watercolor or a shape or a photograph that I can have fun with.

I find I can say things with color and shapes that I can’t say or do in any other medium. Value tells the story, but color gets the credit in watercolor. Vivid colors are the first thing that attract me and the viewer.

My drive to create art comes from a need, not a want. It’s not a choice about whether or not I want to do it; I can postpone it, but I cannot escape from it. I create art in response to personal feelings, experiences, and life lessons. I work in watercolor because it can reflect the wonderful quality of light and transparency.
I love the way a brush full of watercolor paint hits a piece of watercolor paper.

I am constantly working to improve and explore new and interesting ways to paint with watercolor and acrylic. After all everything we do has been done for the first time and it is all a trial and error.

I love all the colors of Utah and its culture.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:

EXPERIENCE:
Past President of the Utah Watercolor Society.
I have been painting with watercolor for 23 years.
I have had my paintings in several shows here in the Salt Lake Valley as well as in Arizona, Oregon and Idaho. I have won the following awards in juried exhibitions and have had several one man shows here in Salt Lake City and Bend, Oregon. I am presently a two star member of the Utah Watercolor Society. I am currently teaching at Petersen’s Art Center in Sugar House and at the Reid school in Millcreek.

I am presently showing a painting at the Springville Art Gallery
Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show 2018. Award of Merit
Intermountain Society of Arts Spring Show 2nd Place
Sandy Art Show 4th Place 2016
Utah Watercolor Society Award of Merit 2003
Sandy Art Show Honorable Mention 2010
Cassia County Grand Champion 2006
Utah Watercolor Society Award of Merit 1996
Utah Watercolor Society Juror Selection 2003
Utah Watercolor Society Award of Merit 2011
Utah Watercolor Society Certificate of Acceptance “The Grand Prize” 1999
Utah State Fair. Third Place in the Professional Division 2021
Utah Watercolor Society Grand Prize Honorable Mention 2021 Small Show

EDUCATION:
Attended workshops with great mentors such as Roland Lee, Laurel Hart, Harold Petersen, Carl Purcell, and Tom Howard and Diane Gardiner.