ABOUT ALLEN
MISSION STATEMENT
Getting outside is good for the soul. Painting outdoors is what I do. It’s what I love, think about, work at, and struggle with.
The outdoor studio provides so much more information than a simple photograph. Views beyond the borders of my composition inform what goes on the canvas. The sounds, the scents, the heat, the cold, the wind, the rain and the elements combine to shape my work. Sometimes “the elements” actually participate in the final piece. In many of my paintings, you'll find bugs and dirt embedded in the paint.
Capturing the light is everything! It is my inspiration. Its elusive and fleeting quality can transform the landscape in a moment and be gone in the next. That urgency to capture that moment gives an energy to the work that is hard to replicate in the studio.
My goal in doing plein-air work is to convey to others my experience and love for a place. I try to bring the outside in.
BIO
Allen’s development as an artist was defined early in his home by his parents. His father was an outdoor enthusiast who led Allen on mountain climbs and backpacking trips across the American west. His mother was an accomplished watercolor artist with a love of the landscape who shared her experience with her young son. Allen went on to earn a fine arts degree from Brigham Young University where he met his wife Janice. They settled in Centerville, Utah where Allen began his career in commercial art and computer game design. Over the next twenty years, Allen refined his artistic skills in the digital world developing video games with fine companies like Disney, Microsoft, and Take Two. It was during this time that Allen discovered the joys and challenges of landscape painting right in his backyard. Utah is a painter’s paradise and a “university” for teaching the plein air artist. He believes that painting on location and in the studio are complimentary pursuits, one building upon the other.
SELECTED SHOWS, COMPETITIONS
& AWARDS
2022
10 Rising Stars to Collect Now - Plein AIr Magazine Nov 2021
Award of Excellence - Plein Air Southwest - Galveston, TX
2nd Place - Spring CIty Plein Air, Spring City, UT
Honorable Mention - Driggs Plein Air Art Festival, Driggs. ID
2021
Artist to Watch in Southwest Art April/May 2021 Edition
Best In Show - Telluride Plein Air - Telluride, CO
1st Place - Plein Air Competition, Brigham City Museum of Art & History, UT
2nd Place - Paint the Town - Highland Lakes Creative Arts, Marble Falls, TX
2020
Landscape Award of Excellence in the Oil Painters Of America Western Regional Show
Best In Show - Santa Fe Plein Air Fiesta - Sorrel Sky Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Best In Show - Traces of the West - Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, UT
Where in the World is Plein Air with Illume Gallery, Utah
2019
Where in the World is Plein Air with Illume Gallery, Utah
Participant in 15th Plein AIr Easton
Participant in Sonoma Plein Air
Best in Show - Plein AIr Competition - Bountiful Davis Art Center, Bountiful, UT
95th annual Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
Traces of the West - Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, UT
2018
Participant in 14th Plein Air Easton
1st Place - Public Lands Paint Out - Red Rocks Art Festival, Moab, UT
Best in Show - Plein Air Competition, Brigham City Museum of Art & History, UT
Artists Choice - Driggs Plein Air Festival, Driggs, ID
Purchase Award - Plein Air Competition - Spring City Arts, Spring City, UT
3rd Place - Plein Air Competition - Logan Summerfest, Logan Utah
3rd Place - Nocturne Paint Out - Escalante Canyons Art Festival, Escalante, UT
Honorable Mention - Escalante Canyons Art Festival, Escalante, UT
Eccles 16th Black & White Competition, Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, UT
94th annual Spring Salon, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT
2017
Best in Show - Red Rocks Art Festival, Moab, UT
1st Place - Quick Draw Plein Air Competition - Spring City Arts, Spring City, UT
1st Place - Nocturne Paint Out - Escalante Canyons Art Festival, Escalante, UT
2nd Place - Traces of the West - Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, UT
2nd Place - Plein Air Competition - Bountiful Davis Art Center, Bountiful, UT
2nd Place - Davis County Statewide Competition, Layton, UT
3rd Place - Eccles Statewide Competition, Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden, UT
Honorable Mention - Midway Paint out - Wasatch Plein Air Paradise, Midway, UT
GALLERIES
BRUSHWORKS GALLERY
160 800 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
STEVEN LEE ADAMS FINE ARTS GALLERY
115 S Main St,
Helper, UT 84526