 | | | Painting by Allison McCrady Photos provided | | | | | | Allison McCrady has been a fixture of the Lamorinda art scene for many years, creating plein-air and abstract paintings and owning the AMFA Art Gallery that offered interesting art in the Theatre Square gallery for many years. Then she hung up the keys, packed her bags and flew to Spain where she let the brilliant Mediterranean sun flood her canvas. Now it is at her friend Jennifer Perlmutter's Lafayette gallery that she is showing some of her new creations.
McCrady dropped her suitcases in the port of Valencia, on the southeastern coast of Spain. She had no regrets about leaving the art gallery. She said there was a time for managing a business and promoting the work of others, but it is now the time for her art to take a new turn.
In the very touristic Mediterranean region she tackled large 6 foot by 10 foot canvasses and took a turn creating a mix of more figurative art as well as abstraction. She was immediately out there on the art scene, displaying and selling her art, somewhat driven by the desire of the locals and the tourists to find in her painting the local ambiance.
There were paintings of fruits and flowers, paintings of charming ports reflecting in the blue waters of the Mediterranean sea, and still in the bold, familiar McCrady style, colorful abstract painting, this time on huge canvases, where an intense luminosity takes the center stage.
McCrady returned from Spain and now lives in the Bay Area - but not for long. She says that she wants to explore more of the world, testing her creativity against new places and new people. Next year may be another McCrady exhibition in Lafayette presenting a new facet of her work from another locale.
McCrady's paintings can be viewed by appointment through September at Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, located at 3620 Mt Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette. The gallery and is open Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA