Raised by scientific and philosophical parents, Allison Coelho Picone always knew that she would be an artist.  Her desire to unite aesthetics, science, and spirituality inspires her painting. She is particularly influenced by artists who take on light as a subject of inquiry in itself: Turner, Monet, and Van Gogh, for examples. Degas’ dynamic compositions are also an influence.  In September of 2010, an art encounter and retreat with Mary Moquin, a Cape Cod landscape artist, reawakened Picone’s sensitivity to nature. She placed representation aside to explore the peaceful and restorative power that nature yields through an application of various mediums and techniques.

Her series speak to different aspects of spirituality and belief: her Queen Anne’s Lace series addresses the idea of life after death, and her paintings in Freedom of the Seasons - The Pace of Nature speak to the innate goodness of all living things.

A life-long resident of Massachusetts, Picone has traveled to Europe, Saint Lucia, New Orleans, Mexico and most of the Eastern coast.  Picone currently resides in Grafton, MA, with her husband, Bill, two growing children, and her dog.

As I observe Nature, I often dwell upon the light and goodness within every living thing. A backlit leaf will hold me in deep thought.  Every color invades my line of vision, especially the elements filled with light.  This color absorption blurs the objects; the leaf and its surroundings are transformed to swatches of vibrating color, similar to a painting itself.  The light in the image becomes a dreamy and glowing ethereal presence.  What I see, feel, hear and imagine, I paint.



My paintings have grown to incorporate pencil, ink, and now collaged textures.  I collage my original water- and digital-manipulated photos onto a canvas.  The results are chaotic, and through my process, a simpler image is revealed, with applications of acrylic paint, pencil, and ink. Nature has a magical tranquility that connects mind, body, and soul; we being living entities connected by earth, air, and water. Life’s chaos can be transformed into peace if one takes a moment to breathe.  Each painting embraces what Nature provides, that of a stillness, a peace, and light in our hearts.

  

In October of 1998, I made a series of weekend trips back home to paint en plein air with our longtime family friend and mentor, the honorable Jeff Eldredge. On this particularly crisp day, we drove to the neighborhood farm, the Soule Homestead, we hopped over the little barbed wire fence and set up our easels. While the idea was to paint the landscape, I decided to paint Jeff within it. I included his characteristic painting garb, the red handkerchief and painting hat. We were about 20 - 30 minutes into painting when he figured out what I was painting. Because I think he was a little embarrassed, he told me we should leave because it was becoming chilly. We packed up our paints and drove the mile to my house to hang out with my husband and parents.

Jeff and his wife, Berta, were an enormous help to our family after my mom passed away. Unfortunately, Jeff's life on this earth was too short as he passed away in December. Jeff had a unique sense of humor, one I would equate to Curly of Three Stooges. Besides keeping everyone in stitches, he was generous with the giving of oil paints, brushes, painting advice, and even a handmade dowel to steady the hand while painting thin lines. Because he meant so much to me and my family, I want to do what he did, help pay it forward. A portion of my painting proceeds go the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation, the disease which took him away from us too soon.

Jeff Eldredge was an artist member of the American Society of Marine Artists and a Copley Artist of the Copley Society of Boston.

( PKD Foundation, PO Box 871847, Kansas City, MO 64187. 1-800-753-2873. For more info: https://www.pkdcure.org/ )