About the Artist

Naomi Allen

I was born and raised in Southern California. My parents went to great lengths to make sure

that I spent a lot of time out of doors, with summers filled with camping trips to the California

coast and the Laguna mountains. My very favorite memories are of backpacking trips led by my

father into the pristine John Muir wilderness of the High Sierras. This is where I learned to

reverence the grandeur of Nature. My husband and I have likewise gone to great efforts to

expose our children to the beauties of Nature, with most of our family trips involving camping and spending time out of doors. 

As the demands of a large family have

lessened, I have had more time to explore

my life-long interest in art.

For the last five years I have been studying as an apprentice with Jeff Hein at

The Hein Atelier of Traditional Art.

Study at the atelier is intense and rigorous.  For three hours, every weekday morning,

I have the opportunity to draw from a live model while the remainder of my time is devoted to the

study of still-life drawing and painting. While what we do there is hard and requires all sorts of

fortitude and a willingness to strive for excellence, I love the realization that I am coming to

see in a way that I have never seen before and that I am gaining the

skills that I desire to help me in my creative process.