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Laura Allen is an artist, writer, and instructor currently living in Bismarck, North Dakota. She draws, paints, weaves, sculpts, and occasionally rests with the help of her husband Phil and their three Wonder Cats. More of her work may be found at laurawaltonallen.com
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I used to be a poet. Well, nobody ever stops being a poet, I suppose, but I used to be a poet in the way I’m an artist now. I still celebrate National Poetry Month, though, no matter how little I’ve written. Today I ran across this one by Robinson Jeffers; it’s not exactly a…
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I’ve been thinking about hands. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about humans and their hands, and the work they choose to do with them. As my own life has progressed, it’s become more apparent to me that I truly do value handmade things of all kinds. From pottery and sculpture to drawing and painting; from…
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It’s really here. This week, my member show at Bismarck Art & Galleries opens, and I’ve been looking forward to it for six months. Well, the leadup been mostly pleasant anticipation, but it’s also been mixed with a bit of apprehension, even a touch of outright terror: see, my new studio wasn’t finished until two…
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I love ravens. Crows and magpies and jays too…all corvids, really. One of my favorite recent moments of wonder–what, you don’t collect moments of wonder? you should start immediately– happened while reading about the intelligence of the Caledonian crows in Jennifer Ackerman’s Genius of Birds . The complexity and nuance of their behavior, in lab…
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Pen and ink rendering can seem a bit intimidating, but it helps to just take it slow and work one step at a time. This ginger root seems complex, but it was all a matter of patience, time, and care. And a good underdrawing. Don’t rush in and think, “Oh, I’ll fix my wonky drawing…
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Coming Up Soon! Botanicals in Micron Pen On June 28, 2025, I’ll be teaching a morning workshop on pen and ink techniques, with a special focus on fineliner pens (such as Pigma Micron) and, yes, botanicals! Besides being one of my favorite things to draw, paint, or cultivate in my actual garden, botanical subjects lend…
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Well, we did it. We moved to sunny North Dakota this spring, and while I’ve been incredibly busy with all the usual house-moving stuff, I’ve had some time to work on art things, including a revamp of my web stuff. My old website and domain at Squarespace was (is) being a limiting pain in the…