She’s not a starving artist. Allison Fox has found balance between the work she enjoys that also pays the bills, and the passion she has for committing her soul to canvas.
The Cypress artist, after a furlough from the market because of the coronavirus pandemic, will make her return to the First Saturday Arts Market in the heart of the Heights shopping district, and she couldn’t be happier.
Born and raised in the Richmond and Rosenberg area of Fort Bend County, she has spent her life doing art.
“Ever since I picked up a crayon in preschool,” she said enthusiastically.
She took private lessons in middle school and art classes were on her schedule from elementary through high school.
Following graduation from Lamar Consolidated, she attended junior college and took a lot of art classes. Later she transferred to Houston Baptist University and they required students to do a double major.
“I was thinking if I would ever make money with art. I even thought about going into commercial art if I could find a school that had that kind of program,” she pondered.
On a whim she took business as her second major thinking it would help her market her work and make money.
“I took an accounting class as one of my basics courses and it seemed to make sense to me. I understand it and it’s kind of fun,” she smiled. “If I’m sick enough to enjoy accounting, maybe I should major in it,” she laughed out loud.
She followed her heart and graduated from HBU with both accounting and art degrees.
She and her husband were high school sweethearts and married young while they were still in school. They now live in Cypress with their two boys.
She started at a small accounting firm after graduation from HBU and then went to work for Deloitte. She left consulting and went to industry working in international tax or transfer pricing.
“You would be surprised how many tax people I’ve met have music in their background,” she said.
“I’m very middle-brained. I’ve always been straight down the middle,” she said evaluating herself.
While it sounds good and most might think she has all these options, she’s the first to say it’s a double-edged sword.
“You have to figure out what to do with them,” she smiled.
She doesn’t do much Crayola work now but focuses on Impressionistic style paintings in acrylics.
For a long time, she kept the left-brained analytical friends separate from her right-brained artistic acquaintances, but now she’s more open about it with everyone.
“I tell everyone that art is my therapy after dealing with numbers all day. It’s relaxing for me,” she said.
She’s passed on her passion for creativity to her youngest son who plays piano and her oldest plays violin.
“It’s been fun since I’m working home, I get to hear both of then practicing,” she said happily passing on some of her creative genes.
She credits her mom for her interest in art.
“My mom Denise was an encourager. She made it a priority for me to be able to take the classes I wanted,” she said.
The artist, who also sings high soprano, got turned on to Impressionist artists for their use of light.
“I’m influenced by the impressionists and work to convey a sense of atmosphere in my work through my use of light and color,” she said. “It pulls you in and makes you feel like you’re there,” she surmised.
She also dabbles in inks and oils but most of her focus recently has been acrylics.
“I’m impatient and don’t like waiting for things to dry,” she laughed.
Her philosophy with painting begins with fundamentals.
“When you learn the fundamentals on how to do classical representation, you have to know the rules and know how to do it technically correct in order to know what rules you might want to break and why. You know how to break them in a way that’s meaningful,” she explained.
“Before COVID happened, I would have told you I devote several hours on the weekends and a few hours each night after work during the week,” the artist said. Now she figures she has more time because she works from home and doesn’t have to commute.
At times, she divides her time between large and small pieces.
Other times she will binge paint.
“I like to work in layers so I will work on one painting, set it aside while it dries, and work on another one. If I’m not working on one, I tend to get irritated,” she said.
“I can have two or three going at the same time. Right now, I have three small ones and a large one on the easel,” she said.
She says she tends to be a fast painter.
“I don’t have a lot of frustration right now in my life because my kids are in third grade and seventh grade so they’re self-sufficient in that they can get their own snacks,” she said.
They’re doing online school and don’t need a lot of attention during the day and her husband also helps out with the kids when he knows she needs painting time.
Fox says she feels like painting for her is healing.
“It’s something you can get lost in and then realize four hours has passed,” she said.
She claims to be a really messy artist.
“I’m a jeans and T-shirt girl and I’ve had to replace so many that I now wear an apron my husband used to wear when he worked at a coffee shop when he was in college,” she laughed.
She has sold paintings on occasions, but in the last two years she’s made a more concerted effort to market and sell her work.
“This October is my one-year anniversary showing my work in the First Saturday Arts Market,” she said.
She was beginning to gain some traction with her work until COVID hit.
This weekend she makes her return to the market after the being locked up at home.
She doesn’t repeat the work she does and lately she has been documenting her work with high resolution photos for saving and for prints as well.
“I’ve been concentrating on landscapes here lately,” she said. In her early years, she ignored them thinking they were boring.
Now she’s found herself growing as an artist.
“I have a catalogue of photos from our travel and I use them for reference. It looks like a reflection of God’s handiwork and He’s the ultimate artist,” she said.
This year, with the COVID pandemic, she’s been stuck inside her home working on bright, beautiful skies. “It’s been like taking a virtual trip via my painting,” she said.
Her favorite artist is Monet. Outside of impressionism she favors Van Gogh and Gustav Klimt.
“I love Van Gogh for his use of color and movement, and Klimt for his marriage of abstract pattern and symbols with realism,” she said.
To see Allison’s work, she will be at the First Saturday Arts Market in October, November, and December. To attend the market, visit their site at
