Jeannine Allen

Jeannine was born in Paris in 1944 and attended Art College in Montmartre. Growing up in the centre of the city, near the Louvre and the Latin Quarter, she was influenced by fine art, achitecture and sculpture from an early age. She subsequently worked in the Palace of Versailles with the architect of the Batiments de France.

She has always loved colourful places, and was inspired by the light and brilliance of Provence and Morocco, where she lived for some time.
After coming to England, and a long period raising my family, she started painting again, setting out on a new voyage of self-discovery. She is a member of Drawn To The Valley, and has been continually inspired by the wild beauty of the coastlines and moorland landscapes near her home in Plymouth.

In her own words....

" My artwork exists to give pleasure to myself and everyone who sees it. I have recently begun to fall in love with the colours and light of Italy and the primitive scenery of Australia.

My work may begin as photographs or sketches, and I make exploratory journeys through each picture, creating new realities and watching the evolution of images. For me, art is not what you see, but what you make others see, and I have been fascinated by the enormous number of responses which the occasional ambiguity of my work has elicited.

I often focus my attention on working boats, with their multi-coloured reflections and battered paintwork, and on harbours, with their sense of safety and permanence. "