Alan Sanborn Sold at Auction Prices

Talent, discipline, craft, inspiration, vision - they so seldom come together at the same time. Hoping that they will coincide beautifully at times, I keep working at the only two variables I can control - craft and discipline. I've painted some wonderful creations from uninspiring commissions, and I've ended up with embarrassing messes straight from my own heart. I used to know what it was I was trying to do. Now I just try and paint - it's the only way I learn about painting. It often boils down to a rhythm that I feel at home with. It's a constant preparation for being ready when inspiration smiles.

Let's be straight about it - I sell my paintings for money. My family needs that. I'm a working artist - that's the nature of human existence, and I ask my paintings to say no more than that. It's about you and I and moments amongst it all that we chance to grasp. It's a good job. The extra reward is as simple as a subtle change in a stroke of blue, shimmering against just the right touch of orange. And the great reward is as complex as someone else's tear.

I'm a straightforward, no special effects, watercolorist. My style? Like everyone, I try and I've tried to paint like those I most admire, sometimes my own students. Boy do I see a lot I like in other people's paintings. But I hold a brush differently, I see color differently. My style is, probably, how much myself gets in the way of lessons I can't quite learn.