Alison Burchert

Encouraged as a small child by an artistic mother, I always sketched family members and pets, being able to capture a good likeness. From school through to college, my ability to draw became apparent and was recognised throughout my home town of Colchester in Essex. I had taken to pastels after years of painting in watercolour. The transition happened when working on a portrait... With watercolours I couldn't keep the smooth texture of the skin and the more I worked at it, the rougher the 'skin' got. Frustrated, I picked up a box of pastels that I'd had from college and almost closed my eyes as I chalked over the face I'd been working on for hours, cringing with the fear of having to throw the whole picture in the bin... I smudged it over with my finger. The result was amazingly smooth and definitely 'skin' like. I put away the watercolours and invested in many shades of quality pastes”. In 1997 and keen to enter into the art world, I offered my services to organisations to produce promotional portraits which came with good media coverage and helped my business catapult within its first year. I was introduced to various artists and teachers and was offered a place to work alongside Royal portrait artist Richard Stone who had admired my work through the local press. In 2003 I took up teaching art within local clubs and private classes, holding exhibitions and encouraging 11 to 16 year olds to develop their artistic talents with workshops using different mediums.

01621 819272