Mark your calendars now, for July 3rd!

My first exhibition in over four years and my first since moving to New Mexico, will be held at Christ The King Anglican Church, starting July 3rd, Saturday. There will be an opening reception at 7pm that day. The majority of my new works in The Garden series will be on display, created 2008-Current. I should have some never-before-seen pieces too!

The address is:

5300 2nd Street Northwest
Albuquerque, NM 87107-4011
(505) 345-1450

I entered a contest through Windsor & Newton, to win Acrylic paint and supplies. Vote for me to win!



Dawn's entry on the Winsor Newton Artists' Acrylic Competition. You can vote for them here!

I just returned from California, for the Art International San Francisco Expo. It was a really great time with the gallery, and to meet other galleries from all over California...I especially liked the weather and a trip to the coast, but who wouldn’t enjoy watching and hearing the tide come in? Well back to New Mexico and we have some exciting things coming soon in the gallery, and of course, summer (my favorite month) is on it’s way!

I’m pleased to announce that I was just hired by Palette Contemporary Arts & Crafts, a gallery located in Albuquerque, NM. More information can be found at www.palettecontemporary.com. The gallery features paintings, metalwork, glass art, limited edition prints and more by 175 American and International artists.

Last friday I received my copies of The Donated Art Book and Volume 1 & 2 of the photography books. They look great! The quality of printing on blurb is fantastic and I was really happy with the results. they make good gifts too, if you are looking for something unusual.

I have also changed the link to The Donated Art Book, and it can be found here.

I'm offering free shipping until Dec. 1, 2009 on all of the greeting cards and the small paintings posted on my site. If you are interested, please follow the link to the online store and everything can be purchased easily through paypal. Thanks!

I've joined the database of www.crewnewmexico.com, New Mexico’s leading film resource! It is a database for individuals or companies that either work in or serve the community of New Mexico filmmakers!

If you like the style of paintings that you see on my site, but you have your own photograph you would like to see as a painting, please email me for a free quote. I do make affordable commissions, and like all of my works, I only use the best, quality artists supplies that will withstand time!

On October 17 from 8am - 12pm, I will be joining the crew from Ridgecrest Yoga to help the KUNM fun drive. We'll be manning the phones during that time and taking your pledges to help support public radio in Albuquerque.

If you are still interested in donating to the book project but do not think you will make the Sept. 30 deadline, don't worry — I'll still accept entrees past this date. Please let me know if you intend to send something late, so I can make sure to leave a page free for your project.

Thanks also to everyone that has sent something already! We really appreciate and, gathering by what we have been given already, I think the book will be interesting and of good quality!

I just put in the order today with a printer, who is making matching note cards of these four paintings. They will be available very soon! The costs are $3 per card, or purchase one of all four designs for $10! You can order them through this website by contacting me at painting_fool@hotmail.com.

In 2008 I made some small films for family and friends that I thought would just be silly and fun — a little different from my normal work, but I enjoyed it. I had some help from some people in Santa Fe, that were gracious enough to lend the use of their voices, and in the case of one person, his airplane.

Comment Magazine has posted my work for this month. It's an interesting publication that can be found at http://www.cardus.ca/comment.

It has become my own personal joke that each year I redesign this website, and here I have proven that again. I just bought some great software called Rapidweaver, which really does work well and allows me a lot of creative freedoms in design, without drowning the mind in html code.

There are several new features to the site. For one, I have I changed it so that it is easier to view larger images of my paintings, and you have the options to pause, go forward or backward to view the works. I have also added links to some small videos that I had posted on utube. These were created for a fun, different-type of Christmas gift in 2008 to my friends and family.

After a year of relocation to a new state and city, I am almost in completion of a brand new series called "the Garden." I will continue to update this, so check back soon for new works and also an upcoming "call for art" — another project dubbed the "Donated Art Project" is being developed now, and I hope to include works by other artists.

I'd love to hear any feedback on the site too, or just how you happened along through cyberspace! Please contact me at painting_fool@hotmail.com.

Thanks!

Dawn

I'm often asked about the process of painting — how much time does one peice take and do I know exactly what I am going to do before I create it?

The answer is yes and no, and it depends.

During the process of creating "Painted Apples" (Below Left) I documented different layers of the paint with photography (Below Right). The original photograph is derived from a spontaneous idea, when one day, I used leftover paint to decorate apples in my parent's orchard. I used this image as a basis, but changed the details to fit the composition.

At this angle, I knew WHAT I was trying to go for, but that actual piece evolves as you play with color, contrast and paint texture. I don't really know what any painting will look like until it is done.

This particular piece took me about two weeks to complete, working on it 4-8 hours a day. It is made of acrylics on wood and the dimensions are 2ft x 2ft, 1/2" thick. I varnish all my paintings with a clear, glossy finish, and prep for hanging.

This painting is a part of a larger group of new works called "The Garden Series" which evolved from my own photography taken in rural Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Most of these photos were taken during the 2008 flood period that soaked my home town, ruined many homes and businesses and was the cause of my own departure.

The Garden/Eden viewpoint is nestled in the creation of the world; the untroubled begining before the fractured time of evil. It is a place of beauty, where there is no want for anything. Yet, a painting is a painting — it is an icon standing for something else, but not the thing itself...therefore these paintings are about loss, even as bright and beautiful as they may seem.

In the fall of 1994 I was a freshman at the University of Northern Iowa and already a declared art major. During that first week, a classmate told me that he was forming an art history study group and that they would meet for introductions that evening after drawing class. It was that evening when I first met the painter Ryan Goodwin (below).



Fourteen years have passed since then, leaving me with the unique observational view on Ryan's work as it has evolved from humorous "Heads On Sticks" and globular, floating shapes, to a more mature, detailed "Fracture" series.

In the years that I have been involved with painting, there is no one else that I have known that has been as prolific as Ryan. While producing several paintings per year, he has continued to experiment with mediums and ideas, while developing detailed craftsmanship.

The results of his work are complex structures shadowed for depth; non-objective shapes that give viewers the illusion of something tangible in the real world. It is not surprising that people have picked out circles and squares, thinking that it was a road, house, or, perhaps, a wolf in the background. The images reverberate with movement and are not static or flat.

The colors are specifically chosen and not accidental. When Ryan paints, he uses a clean sheet of glass and mixes the exact colors into separate, neat sections. Therefore, for each painting he is using a limited color pallet that compliment and contrast, but are not necessarily expected.



Almost all of his paintings are created with oils on canvas, and are done, usually, in one sitting. Depending on the size of a canvas, Ryan may paint for a few hours straight or for an entire day, in order to complete the idea in his mind.

While the "Fracture" series has given Ryan a lot of room to experiment with shape and color, not all of his projects have been so serious. The last few years he has been designing kites in Chicago, where he has resided since 1999. His other spare moments have been filled with collaborations with other artists, making silly Ninja movies, comic strips, and any other odd, funny project that hatches in his imagination. In fact, some of these I can’t mention here because they are in public places under anonymous names.

With that aside, much of his work can be viewed online at www.goodwingallery.com.