When did you start your creative practice and why?
I became self employed at the age of 23 after a year working as an art teacher, a job I was totally unsuited for. I had always wanted to be an artist but it was another 10 years of painting in the winter and working on farms in the summer before I was taken on by a good provincial gallery when I became a truly professional artist living solely on my artistic output.
How would you describe your artistic style to someone unfamiliar with your work?
My work tends to be highly detailed and naturalistic.
What themes or ideas do you find yourself returning to most often?
I am basically a landscape painter and it is the landscape that I continually return to. However I also paint still life, urban and industrial scenes and some more unusual figurative/ narrative work that can explore themes of mortality and the passage of time.
What is your creative process from idea to finished piece is it always the same?
I tend to look for and start with an interesting composition. The painting begins with a detailed underdrawing followed by traditional painting techniques. However my starting point has occasionally been a line of poetry or song lyric upon which I have developed an idea.
Is there a particular piece of yours that feels especially meaningful? Why?
I had always seen inclusion in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition as a major ambition and accolade. In 1993 I achieved this for the first time with my mixed media piece entitled ‘Shrine for a dead guitar hero’, my personal homage to Jimi Hendrix. It was even more pleasing to discover that it had been bought at the preview by international fashion designer Paul Smith.
What do you find challenging as an artist, and how do you overcome these challenges?
Being told that painting is a gift. It’s not. It is bloody hard work. How do I overcome this challenge. Commitment and the overarching desire to produce something worthwhile and of lasting value.
Do you ever have creative blocks, how do you keep motivated?
I don’t allow myself to have creative blocks. Again, the answer is commitment.
How does your immediate environment or location play in your work?
As a landscape artist, my immediate environment of living on a farm is a constant inspiration.
Who are the artists (past or present) who have strongly influenced you?
I have been influenced by artists from the 15th century Flemish painters through to the Pre Raphaelites and beyond to the Minimalists with many in between, but from the age of 16 and a constant since, has been JMW Turner. His vision, constant development, phenomenal work rate, draughtsmanship, technical prowess and invention has always left me marvelling.
How has your style or perspective evolved over time?
Whilst at college I worked exclusively in oils, relatively loosely with free use of the palette knife but unlike most artists who become looser, my technique became tighter and more controlled developing a very naturalistic style. I also started using watercolours which have since become my main medium.
How do you balance artistic expression with practical concerns like income or marketing, social media?
Painting is my ‘raison d’etre’. Everything else is secondary and consequently I have been prepared to live on an income which most people would consider unacceptable and neglected the business side, doubtless to my detriment.
If you could give the younger you advice what would it be?
Ignore your parents. Raise your standards. Work harder.
If your work could evoke one feeling or reaction in viewers, what would it be?
Astonishment
What is your website and how do we find you on social media?
www.rogerallen.co.uk
Social media is the work of the devil
