ARTIST STATEMENT
"Living in a large metropolitan area has pushed me to paint something more soothing - landscapes or pastoral scenes which provide some sort of peace - an escape from the harried world which seems to be racing madly about us. Raised around the coastal areas and barrier islands of Savannah, Georgia, I feel I have been greatly influenced in my subject choices of my recent landscape works. These paintings tend to capture moments of time and color in nature with my favorite times of the day being the early morning when there is such a lovely pink lavender hue or the very late afternoon when the sun softens the greens of the marsh and creates the most amazing blue waters ever.
I use various techniques in creating these works - palette knife on rough Russian Yarka, drips, washes, as well as, the brush - where many of the canvases are undertoned with a rich cadmium red and burnt umber allowing this richness to seep through to the surface. I tend to want to play with paint to see what it can do - whether it be thick or thin, how it pulls or drags, how it mixes on the palette or canvas...I am not opposed to trying new or different things such as photography or encaustic. I am challenged when learning new techniques.
I want to express my deepest and sincerest appreciation to my mentors - Angela Nesbit of North Carolina and Halima Washington of San Francisco and Atlanta, both palette knife artists, James Richards and Millie Gosch, both plein air artists, Jason McGrady of Atlanta, encaustic artist, and Philip Carpenter of Atlanta who reintroduced me to the world of art many years ago. Thank you so much for your help in my understanding."
Donna
"Living in a large metropolitan area has pushed me to paint something more soothing - landscapes or pastoral scenes which provide some sort of peace - an escape from the harried world which seems to be racing madly about us. Raised around the coastal areas and barrier islands of Savannah, Georgia, I feel I have been greatly influenced in my subject choices of my recent landscape works. These paintings tend to capture moments of time and color in nature with my favorite times of the day being the early morning when there is such a lovely pink lavender hue or the very late afternoon when the sun softens the greens of the marsh and creates the most amazing blue waters ever.
I use various techniques in creating these works - palette knife on rough Russian Yarka, drips, washes, as well as, the brush - where many of the canvases are undertoned with a rich cadmium red and burnt umber allowing this richness to seep through to the surface. I tend to want to play with paint to see what it can do - whether it be thick or thin, how it pulls or drags, how it mixes on the palette or canvas...I am not opposed to trying new or different things such as photography or encaustic. I am challenged when learning new techniques.
I want to express my deepest and sincerest appreciation to my mentors - Angela Nesbit of North Carolina and Halima Washington of San Francisco and Atlanta, both palette knife artists, James Richards and Millie Gosch, both plein air artists, Jason McGrady of Atlanta, encaustic artist, and Philip Carpenter of Atlanta who reintroduced me to the world of art many years ago. Thank you so much for your help in my understanding."
Donna
