We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Genevieve Allen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Genevieve below.

Hi Genevieve, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

It wasn’t until I was in my mid thirties when faced with a career crisis, that I decided to try selling my paintings. I’ve always painted and been creative, and I even went to art school, but I never thought it was a viable career path. In retrospect, I realize that is an outdated way of thinking. I should have followed my artistic path a long time ago!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m an abstract painter, who lives in North Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. I have a studio at home that I share with my rescue corgi.

I draw on my decades long experience in the fashion industry and my appreciation of the natural world. I’ve always been fascinated by beautiful things: art, fashion, interiors, books, and gardens. Creating beauty, and actively seeking beauty in the everyday, is to me, an act of love; a way of bringing good, and optimism into the world.

Colour is the guiding force in my work and it’s the foundation for all of my paintings. Using acrylic, graphite, and pastel on paper and canvas as my mediums, I strive to create exuberant, and joyful work, capturing a sense of movement and harmony.

I love working with clients on custom pieces. I’m heavily influenced by interior design and one of the most fun parts of my job, is working on projects with interior designers. Art is what makes a home interesting, personal and meaningful. It’s a huge moment of pride when I see my paintings in a beautiful home, and It’s an honour when someone trusts me to make something for them.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Before painting professionally, I owned a clothing boutique. I’ve always loved both fashion and art, and pursuing fashion seemed like the more practical career path. At the time, I didn’t have a lot of examples of artists who were successful, and it was hard to envision a life where painting full-time was my job,

When I made the decision to close my store it felt like the end of my world. I didn’t have a back up plan. I felt panicked about what I would do next. And then I started painting again, and I started to feel more purpose in my life. There were many times when I doubted my talent and my ability, but there was always a little voice that told me to keep going. I needed that big disruption to push me into taking a chance. I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose and that gave me a tremendous amount of freedom.

It’s been proven to me over and over in life, that when a door closes another always opens. At the time it may feel terrible and scary and you can’t imagine what good thing might become of it. But the big pivots and changes in life are often where the magic, and unimaginable happens. I would never have believed during the difficult time of closing my store that I would be painting full time, working with clients and interior designers and selling my work across the country. It would have seemed impossible. But I kept being open, kept putting myself out there, I started working with a coach and investing in my career, and slowly opportunities started to come.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think we can all do small things to support artists and creatives. From shopping local so small businesses can afford to support artists and makers, to sharing work we love from artists on social media. I also think that as artists and creatives it’s important to support each other. There is so much information we can share with one another. Supporting other artists and highlighting their work is such a generous and easy thing to do. Being open to answer questions from other artists who are are starting out is in my opinion, part of the job. I experienced a lot of support from other artists and it makes things so much easier when you have people who will give you their time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.genevieveallen.ca
• Instagram: @beaandg