"2011 International Fine Art Painting Competition", Artist Haven Gallery,
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Best in Category (Figurative/People/Portraits)

2010 American Art Awards
5th Place award

Schmertzler usually works ala-prima ...paint directly on the surface without underdrawings. Often, but not always, he draws studies before going ala-prima. The underpinnings of all of the paintings are very lose and gestural figures splashed on with colorful and wet acrylic paint in a reckless manner to create mood and accidents from which to work.

Allen Schmertzler incorporates historical artist's motifs to choreograph, design, structure, or mood a current political-social theme and to give it a spin of sorts. For example, he studied Thomas Hart Benton’s regionalistic paintings to give a middle America down home, almost old fashioned feel to his own paintings about George W. Bush's appealing to the red states.