Ms Allan, who lives at Ikawai, on the north bank of the Waitaki River, has traded a career in investment banking for motherhood and art.
And there were other women, living on farms in the area, who were also doing a variety of "interesting things", she said.
Brought up on a sheep and beef farm at Macraes Flat, Ms Allan never thought she would return to the country, even though she was a "farm girl" and self-confessed tomboy when growing up.
After completing her secondary schooling at St Kevin's College in Oamaru, she studied commerce at the University of Otago, along with some design papers, as she had always had a keen interest in art.
A stint overseas followed and she got into investment banking in Sydney, a job she thought she would do "forever", but then the financial crisis started, the situation changed and it became too volatile.
Returning to New Zealand, she did some share trading from home in Christchurch, before moving to South Canterbury.
The mother of two boys, Tom (6) and Ben (4), was then faced with what to do when living on a farm.
She decided to retrain, studying graphic design through Aoraki Polytechnic, and gained some work in Waimate.
When it became too hard to juggle work and children, she decided to focus on her art and some freelance graphic design.
She also sells products online based on her art, including art blocks, calendars, gift cards and posters for children's rooms.
She has been busy attending various fetes and her work is also being exhibited at Melanie Craig Design, in Gore, and at Artscape with Latitude at Trotts Garden, in Ashburton, on Saturday.
Ms Allan has always painted faces, since she was young, particularly women, and gained inspiration from fashion and colours.
There was no story behind it, although she did have three sisters - "maybe it's something to do with that" - and it was something she enjoyed.
"I don't want to be doing what other people are doing. I just love painting them," she said.
The best thing about living at Ikawai was the people and it was a very supportive community, she said.
Ms Allan said she did not have a "grand plan" for her career - she just wanted her children to be happy and to "have a little bit of success in what I'm doing".