Andrea Gosling paints at her home studio. Sequim Gazette photo by Ashley Miller

Andrea Gosling’s paintings are vibrant and colorful — just like her personality.

Using a rainbow of acrylic paints on prestretched canvas, the 23-year-old artist focuses on concepts rather than details. The result is one-of-a-kind paintings designed to conjure up feelings and thoughts.

“I try to achieve balance and harmony using asymmetrical shapes,” Gosling said.

“I don’t like the points to mirror each other as much as I like them to balance each other.”

The quality of Gosling’s work and the confidence in her brush strokes might lead people to believe she’s been painting all her life. In actuality, Gosling started painting three months ago after signing up for a class at Peninsula College with Michael Paul Miller.

Gosling earned a 3.9 grade-point in the class and credits Miller for “helping me to find a voice in painting.”

Though she grew up in an artistic family and enjoyed tinkering with pastels from time to time over the years, Gosling never thought of herself as an artistic person. Now, she paints every day and proudly calls herself an artist.

Gosling is selling her artwork online at www.etsy.com. To view her work, simply type “Alluring Arts” in the search window for sellers. Paintings range in price from $15-$75.

Gosling said she hopes people will see her artwork online and be pleasantly surprised at the inexpensive cost.

“I want people to be able to enjoy my paintings,” she said. “I enjoy creating them and I enjoy seeing them and I just want to share that.”

While she hopes to earn some extra money selling her work — or at least enough money to cover the costs of the hobby — Gosling has other career goals. She’s taking classes to finish her Associate of Arts degree and then plans to become a licensed mental health counselor through an online program at City University.

Come springtime, Gosling plans to pair up with her mother, who’s also an artist, to sell paintings, prints, and decorative writing and art journals at the Sequim Open Aire Market. The mother-and-daughter duo is starting a business called Slightly Askew Studios. They’ve purchased the Web domain but the site isn’t up and running yet.

“Candy,” a pastel painting, by Andrea Gosling Submitted photo

Gosling is an Olympic Peninsula native who graduated from the Olympic Peninsula Academy home-school program.

Her husband lives and works in Canada and is in the process of getting his green card. The couple met at a concert and married after what Gosling describes as a “whirlwind romance.”

Gosling encourages others to pursue their creative talents even if they don’t label themselves as artists.

“If you look at art and say, ‘I wish I could do that,’ then jump in and just do it,” she said. “Everybody has a natural ability to create in some way, so if it’s something you think you might enjoy, try it.”

To contact Gosling directly, e-mail andi.m.williams@hotmail.com.