Alison’s paintings are exuberant in their colouring, technically innovative, and compositionally daring.  In them there is a palpable tension between depiction and abstraction; between what is observed and what is imagined; what is seen and what is felt. In 2021, emphasising that her paintings are concerned with “pure feeling”, she says, 

 “I am striving to get at the beauty in the things that surround us, to that which elevates us beyond reason”. Her deceptively modest compositions – in inverse proportion to the profundity of their message – express an array of personal emotions while simultaneously exploring universal human truths.

Alison’s paintings are underpinned by her unquestionable sincerity and characterised by such freshness and enthusiasm that they appear to have been painted spontaneously. In fact, although there are occasional acts of last-minute spontaneity, they are fundamentally the product of long periods of reflection and introspection. Colour is integral to her work, it is the vehicle for her to explore emotional states, yet, colour is not mere decoration, it is thought, it is joy, it is pain, it is resistance. It is an experience.

Alison acknowledges the struggles entailed in making a painting; in her own words “to embrace the mysterious nature of the creative process”. Her style continues to evolve as a result of her constant, restless, unquenchable urge for experimentation, and an inexorable quest for ever greater abstraction. Each abstract may appear deceptively soft, yet they pulse with the quiet power of subversion.

Alison trained as a painter at the prestigious Bath Spa Academy, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in Fine Art in 1998. She remained in Bath to continue her studies, and in 2000 was awarded an MA in Visual Culture by Bath Spa University.

She currently works from her home studio in Dumfries and Galloway.