Ali Malan West

In 2009 I was a senior in high school with plans to pursue a collegiate career in architecture. A handful of experiences (some positive, some negative) rerouted those plans into a formal education of fine art. One of those positive experiences was getting into the Springville Museum’s 37th Annual All-State High School Art Show. It felt rewarding, intimidating and most of all encouraging. It was just what I needed to take the plunge that fall into the Painting and Drawing department at the University of Utah.

Fast forward more than a decade since graduating from the U of U and my painting skills were dustier than I was proud to admit. Nothing short of a string of divine sequences brought me to the studio of a painter I had never met to re-learn the art of oil-painting portraits. With her motivation pushing me to finish the portrait in time to submit it the Spring Salon, I let dishes pile, kids sit in front of Bluey for too long and night after night of underwhelming dinners repeat until the painting was “submittable.” It was my first completed portrait painting in years and regardless of the outcome of the show, it was a relief to have the creative damn opened.

Unbelievably to me, my name made the list of accepted artists. It felt rewarding, intimidating and most of all encouraging. It was just what I needed to take the plunge into becoming a professional portrait painter.