Artistic creations include shoes

Little did he realize that taking an art class when he was 5 would spawn a passion for art that has stretched across three decades.

Alan Spivey, 34, loves art and always has a project in the works.

The second eldest son of Janet and the late Sammy Spivey’s four children, Alan, graduated from Pea Ridge High School in 1997 and earned an associate of arts degree from NorthWest Arkansas Community College studying arts, graphic design and fine arts. He is the relationship manager at Training Pros of Northwest Arkansas.

“It was just kind of one of thosethings. I took my first college art class when I was a kid. When I was 5, I was invited to take part in a studio drawing class with Deborah Terry who is now retired. She was the head of the Art Department at NWACC. Twenty years later when I went to college, she remembered me,” Spivey said.

“I’ve been doing art professionally since I was 14 or 15,” Spivey recalls, remembering the steel bear he and Dennis Turner, a neighbor, made for a sign for a gasoline station on the way to Eureka Springs.

Spivey works with pencils, acrylic and oil. He has painted murals in people’s homes. He works on canvas, shoes, billboards. One of his most popular requests is for canvas shoes painted with high school or college athletic mascots and has many Razorback shoes as well as Bentonville Tigers and Rogers Mounties shoes, usually working on a couple of pairs of shoes a week.

“I recently completed a pair withthe Blackhawks,” he said, speaking of his Pea Ridge High School mascot. He said working on a pair of shoes takes about eight to 10 hours but he can usually have an order filled within 24 hours.

“Razorbacks are the favorite. I’m a big fan. I love to support my team. I’m kind of surprised at not having done the Blackhawks.”

Spivey draws portraits in pencil and has completed about 60 portraits, all of which are sold. “Most of what I do is on commission,” he said. “I don’t have art that sits around and collects dust.”

“I really enjoy it. I enjoy dealing with people. I have di◊erent projects that come from di◊erent folks. It drives me and my creative need,” he said. Most of his portraits are drawn from a photograph.

“I do watercolors, but haven’t had a water color commission in years,” he said.

He has painted landscapes at the request of clients and drawn a cartoon network poster. At one point, he worked on a poster and animation for a cartoon network for UBADA Adventures.

Variety fuels his passion and some of Spivey’s work has been creating logos for local T-ball travel teams as well as art for brochures, signs and banners.

Spivey began working for Walmart when he graduated from college. He said he was a web designer with Sam’s Club. Now, he writes training and development software, voice overs, background music - “all kinds of cool stu◊.”

In addition to his art, Spivey enjoys playing music - guitar and singing, mostly classic rock and country -hunting and fishing, all of which can be seen in his art.

“I’m an outdoors man. I like to hunt and fi sh. That comes across in my art.

Crappie fishing has been my big thing lately. It seems like it’s getting picked up and I’m getting a lot of commissions lately, especially for local scenery.”

Spivey said he enjoys the outdoors and may sit admiring the scenery at a favorite location, then begin a sketch in pencil. “I take it back to the studio, then start painting.

“I’m very much an illustrator as far as my style. I use the dry brush technique. It allows me to shade - it gives me a soft shading technique that is a little di◊erent than just putting wet paint on canvas,” he said.

He has displayed his artin a booth at the Bentonville square.

To contact Spivey, e-mailhim at alanspiveycreative@ gmail.com or on his Facebook page Alan Spivey Art.

News, Pages 1 on 10/09/2013