About Sara Allan
Biography
I began working life as a shepherd in the borders of Scotland and Wiltshire, always preferring to be outside with nature.
This strong connection with the life force in the wild fed my passion to express it in paint. Initially, by painting landscapes and later on to make a bold leap into the unknown by allowing a force, unidentifiable by me or anyone else as far as I can tell, to work through me.
This began in 1997, by exploring the unconscious I became aware that when painting, if I allowed it, a force would take over my hand and direct with great certainty, lines and shapes which I would later paint. I am by no means the first to experience this. Hilma af Klint and Georgiana Haughton were both pioneers of abstract painting and utilised this phenomenon.
Having discovered this unusual gift, I am determined to explore it as much as possible. My curiosity drives me to paint again and again, using many different mediums, pen and ink, oils mostly, occasionally acrylics and pastels. The shapes and colours keep reinventing themselves and flow with fluency. It is very curious to receive the titles by automatic writing which often explains the paintings and helps with understanding them. Titles such as “Words restrict the mind” or “The hymn of the lion to heaven” “Birdsong on the heart” titles such as these give an idea of the poetic quality of the work. I am painting 12 series of works and currently on Series 10 of which there are to be 89 works. The current Series is “Fortitude in the Face of Fear” The title I received just before the outbreak of the pandemic.
I have just returned to England after living and working in Mallorca. The majority of the work displayed on here is located in Mallorca Spain where my daughter lives. She has taken care of shipping previous pieces to New York, Germany and the UK with no issues. I believe art should be accessible to everybody and my work seems to especially resonate with the younger generation. This feels like a great platform to reach the that audience. I do believe the works have a positive effect and perhaps are passing to us some subliminal message albeit it one of celebration.
This began in 1997, by exploring the unconscious I became aware that when painting, if I allowed it, a force would take over my hand and direct with great certainty, lines and shapes which I would later paint. I am by no means the first to experience this. Hilma af Klint and Georgiana Haughton were both pioneers of abstract painting and utilised this phenomenon.
Having discovered this unusual gift, I am determined to explore it as much as possible. My curiosity drives me to paint again and again, using many different mediums, pen and ink, oils mostly, occasionally acrylics and pastels. The shapes and colours keep reinventing themselves and flow with fluency. It is very curious to receive the titles by automatic writing which often explains the paintings and helps with understanding them. Titles such as “Words restrict the mind” or “The hymn of the lion to heaven” “Birdsong on the heart” titles such as these give an idea of the poetic quality of the work. I am painting 12 series of works and currently on Series 10 of which there are to be 89 works. The current Series is “Fortitude in the Face of Fear” The title I received just before the outbreak of the pandemic.
I have just returned to England after living and working in Mallorca. The majority of the work displayed on here is located in Mallorca Spain where my daughter lives. She has taken care of shipping previous pieces to New York, Germany and the UK with no issues. I believe art should be accessible to everybody and my work seems to especially resonate with the younger generation. This feels like a great platform to reach the that audience. I do believe the works have a positive effect and perhaps are passing to us some subliminal message albeit it one of celebration.
