About Alanna Well, I've been told that I should write something about my schooling, shows, and all that.   My formal training was mercifully short. At sixteen I was enrolled at the Skola Primijenjene Umjetnosti i Dizajna in Zagreb when my parents took us to live in Croatia. The prospect of finally going to an art school was exciting beyond words. Very few new students were accepted each year and I had the good fortune to be one of them.

However, I had already been rebelling against school for some years and it wasn't long before even art school felt crushing. Although I was there willingly, I couldn't believe that my teachers had the audacity to put any restrictions on me whatsoever regarding how and what I was going to paint. Clearly, I wasn't going to be a good student. After I got over feeling ungrateful, I started skipping classes and, eventually, stopped going altogether. Waves of relief flooded through me when I regained the freedom to draw and paint on my own.   One afternoon, when I was seventeen, I made the unwavering commitment to embark upon my life as a painter. This isn't as farfetched as it might sound. All my life I had access to my mother's studio. She's an amazing painter. One of the greatest gifts which I received from her was that she taught me to draw what I really see and not what I think I see. As a kid, I remember painting in her studio an often bursting into tears from the sheer frustration of being unable to make something work to my satisfaction. Without my mother's encouragement I may well have given up. Instead, I learned to persevere and find solutions.

With this strong foundation, and a vast amount of self-discipline and innocence, I was determined to make a living as a painter. Of course, it was far from easy! Thankfully, right from the beginning, there were people who loved my work. I had shows, commissions, and private sales. And, this happened despite the dreadful difficulty I had in speaking to people about my work. Making phone calls for appointments just about killed me! I congratulate myself for every call I ever made. All I wanted was to paint all day. I needed a place to live. I needed to paint. I didn't care about anything else. For years my fortunes vacillated between broke and very broke. I just didn't care because I was managing, albeit barely. It's true that I'd wistfully look at grapes when all I could afford was cabbage. But, that's just the way it was if I wanted to buy that desperately needed new brush.   I'd be lying if I said there weren't times when I was sick with worrying about how I was going to make it through the month. Nevertheless, I considered my life to be wildly successful because I was painting, and painting is what I'd set out to do.   Gradually, the contacts grew. Through exhibitions, home shows, and word-of-mouth, I met more and more people who began collecting my work. And, here I am today still painting full time, living in Taiwan mostly, and finding inspiration everywhere.  This very abbreviated story of my painting life wouldn't be complete without mentioning my family and friends. The positive effects of their support and generosity over the years cannot possibly be overstated. It's with immense gratitude that I thank each one of them for being in my life.