I’m a sucker for abstracts, what with their big colours and only a hint of what you’re looking at (often only in the title, if that). They make me think of freer times and cleverer people. Flicking through the gallery of painter Jeannine Allen, you get taken on that journey.

Storm-lashed beaches, the moors, Mount Edgcumbe, Provence, Morocco the subject matter is wide-ranging and the pallete is too, reflecting the dower Englishness of the weather or the vibrance of Southern Europe.

Jeannine was born in Paris, studied art in Montmartre, worked in Palace of Versailles and settled in Devon with her English husband.

“My artwork exists to give pleasure to myself and everyone who sees it,” she says. And who can say fairer than that?

posted by Lee Morgan

Jeannine is a member of Drawn to the Valley