Alison Watt has worked as a biologist on seabird colonies, an ecotour guide, has published a novel, a work of non-fiction and a book of poetry. She teaches painting online and in her studio on Protection Island, near Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Alison is interested in where science (especially biology) and art interface and her paintings are informed by landscape and botanical forms. As a self-taught artist who has been painting for over thirty years, Allison relates to both the dream of making the paintings we see in our minds, and the frustrations of mastering the tools, techniques, and mindset to achieving them. Alison is not interested in moral instruction but in illuminating new ways of seeing.

During our conversation, Alison talks about creative destruction, informed intuition, and how freeing it is to paint without brushes. 

Takeaways

1. Paint as if neither your time nor your materials are valuable.
2. “We grow small when we try to be great.” David Hockney
3. Our job is to have an authentic relationship with what we’re making.
4. Take some time to pause and look back at what you have created.
5. Visual imagery can slide underneath language right to the heart.
6. Create a lot of opportunity for unexpected events.
7. Every layer makes it better.

Mentioned

Alison Watt

Alison Watt on Instagram

Alison Watt on YouTube

Artwork Artplay

Alison Watt on Pinterest

Dazzle Patterns, by Alison Watt

Triangle Island, Anne Vallée Triangle Island Ecological Reserve

David Hockney

Joni Mitchell