ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY

Allura Westly, painter, watercolor teacher, workshop presenter and creator of beaded jewelry was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a place where the weather keeps you indoors frequently. As she doodled away her childhood rainy days, she glimpsed a potential beyond her physical senses, a vision into an inner world beyond external form. Her images take the viewer on an inner journey into the archetypical or metaphysical, a world beyond form and limitation. Forced within, color and composition were a way to express all the exquisite marvels and mysteries nestled deeply in her soul.

At age twelve her talent was recognized by a school teacher and she was enrolled in art classes with adults at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They did life studies in the museum's catacombs where masterpieces were stored. She attended a technical high school to study art, and then entered the Cheltenham Art Center as a young adult where she came under the tutelage of a dedicated and passionate teacher/artist, Gladys Wagner, who midwifed the birth of the true artist. This was followed by study with artist Paul Keene at Bucks County College.

Allura's art has been inspired by Tiffany's work in glass, with its brilliant color and design; by the movement and color of Art Noveau; and by the mysticism of the Pre-Raphaelites. Georgia O'Keefe's independence and outside-the-box creativity has also contributed to her quest for artistic truth beyond rules and form.

Her abundance of creativity overflows into every facet of her life, and is driven by a need for beauty that is as essential to life for her as breath. The focus of her painting is Spirit, Movement and Color. Her subject matter varies from haunting ethereal faces, to larger-than-life flowers to vivid undersea visions. There is a looseness and flexibility that comes w/ breaking the rules, you are no longer in the box of confirmed teachings that keep you comfortable and in line with what is expected. Breaking out of the box is a freefall; you don't know where you will land and what you will discover, because you're risking it all for a painting, for a thought.

Her colors are bright, glowing and exotic. She is constantly reaching for the next unique hue, using layering techniques she is constantly inventing. "I don't mix colors very much because I don't use the seven color standard of mixing. Science has developed state of the art color and we are not living in the 1800's where you had to use oil and flowers to make colors. I'm a sucker for every new color that comes out from my favorite companies and I'm not ashamed to say that I buy them all. How color effects light, and how light effects color is part of my study, my never ending desire to learn more and bring illumination into my art."