Uncategorized – Dayna J Collins

At Long Last: Two Online Oil and Cold Wax Classes

It has been a long time in coming, but I am happy to announce that I was invited to teach an online oil and cold wax class and the platform aligns with how I envisioned I would like to teach if I ever chose to teach online. Classes are taught live through Zoom (with recordings available to watch for 60 days).

Martha at Winslow Art Center reached out to me about a month ago to see if I would be interested in teaching with their online art school. Here is a little about the Winslow Art Center:

Winslow Art Center, a young and innovative art school established in 2011, is the creation of its owner/director, Martha Jordan. Originally founded as a brick-and-mortar art studio on Bainbridge Island, 5 miles across Puget Sound from Seattle, Martha’s vision was to offer small and intimate, live multi-day workshops and weekly art classes taught by world class professionals, and to supplement those classes in the Spring and Fall by offering overseas art tours to Italy led by the same instructors. The school and tours were popular and expanding when the Covid pandemic brought the world, and the Center, to a halt.

Martha, with the help of her daughters Anne, Amy and Addie and web designer Kato D, visualized real-time online classes happening over Zoom, putting in long hours to learn the new technologies while convincing instructors and students that distance teaching online could be both viable and rewarding. Martha’s dedication to helping others use the new online tools thrust upon us has been a major component of Winslow Art Center’s success. The results have exceeded even Martha’s wildest expectations. Today the Center offers nearly 80 online classes with instructors recognized as leaders in their chosen media. Moreover, the Center has graduated from a regional to a truly international school with instructors and students participating from across the United States and around the world.

After digging into the website of the art center, I excitedly accepted the offer and we decided I would start by teaching an online version of my popular oil and cold wax class. My inaugural class is a teaser, An Intro to Oil and Cold Wax. This one is part of the art center’s popular Technique Takeaways, a 1-1/2 hour online class that offers a look at a particular art technique. My description of this intro class:

Painting with oil paint mixed with cold wax medium is like painting with whipped butter. It is soft and creamy, and when dry, it can be buffed to a beautiful sheen. In this 1-1/2 hour demo, Dayna will share about the many benefits of using cold wax medium with oil paint, share mixing ratios, methods for applying paint with putty and palette knives, how to speed up drying time, and offer a sampling of creative techniques. (There will be time for Q & A after the presentation.)

This mini class is scheduled for Friday, May 31, from 2-3:30 pm (Pacific time) with a cost of $40.

The main class I’m teaching, Wild and Free Abstracted Landscapes in Oil and Cold Wax, will be a complete class on all aspects of painting with oil and cold wax. This class covers everything from mixing demonstrations, a variety of techniques, and discussions about color, value, composition, and design elements. In addition, there will be discussions and demos about how to make more powerful compositions, add interest to our pieces, and how know when a painting is done.

One of the great things about this platform besides my teaching live and being able to interact with students in real time, is a private message board within our online classroom where I can dialogue with students (and students with each other). Questions can be asked, work can be shared, and feed back can be requested. I am excited that I get to interact with students throughout the week.

This class is scheduled for Tuesdays, July 9-30, from 10:00 am -12:30 pm (Pacific time), with a cost of $295.

To register, head to Winslow Art Center and choose one (or both) of my classes. Take time to browse the art center’s website; they have a FAQ page that is very helpful.

Goodbye 2023, Hello 2024

I am finally taking the time to do a blog post. So much has transpired since my last post (when I taught with Orly at the end of May!). Since that time, I taught an oil and cold wax class at Sitka in June, taught for the first time at the Creative Arts Community in August, had a solo show at Salem on the Edge in September, taught a contemporary collage class at Sitka in October, participated in a member show through Astoria Visual Arts, had two pieces with my art group show at the Cannon Gallery at Western Oregon University, had my art featured in the North Coast Squid publication through the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, and participated in the Little Things show at Guardino Gallery and the Small Works show at Salem on the Edge. Geez, that is a lot of activity since May. And NOT ONE BLOG POST.

Maybe a bit of the reason is that during those months of art activity, Howard and I decided it was time to downsize our life – both where we lived and our possessions. We started by cleaning out the house and I started to purge the found objects and many of my collections stored in my basement studio. It became a months long process. Some things were given away, other things were priced and boxed for a garage sale (our EPIC sale took place in September, add that to the list of big life things that took place).

Our beloved three-level 1926 Belmont home.

As I write this, it is New Year’s Eve and we are settled in our new house in SE Salem. The story of the sale of our Belmont home and the purchase of our new Pullman home is an unbelievable tale of synchronicity and pure magic. Here is an abbreviated version of what transpired . . . .

We had decided to prepare our house to sell, which started several months ago by cleaning things out. We were casually looking at houses for sale in Salem, just so we would know what was available and so we could determine what our house might sell for and what we would be able to afford to buy. A house popped up that we loved, but the timing was not right and then the house we loved sold quickly.

In October we took a time out and flew to Washington DC for a ten-day vacation. When we returned, the house we had loved popped up for sale again and there was an open house the day after we returned from our trip. We decided to go see if the Pullman house was as nice as we thought. The minute we walked into the house, we loved it. But our house wasn’t even staged, much less for sale. But we loved the Pullman house. We happened to mention to the realtor that we would be selling our house, he asked where it was, and that was that. Howard and I were trying to figure out if there was a way we could make an offer on the Pullman House……

Here is where the magic comes in. In a whirlwind of activity, the realtor showing the Pullman house had clients who were looking for a house in our neighborhood. Our Belmont house was shown and they loved it as much as we loved Pullman. Poof. Our house sold, we bought Pullman and we signed for the selling of our house and the purchase of Pullman on the same day. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?!? Howard represented us as the sellers of Belmont and the buyers of Pullman, saving us many thousands of dollars.

The Pullman House in SE Salem; back in the 02 zip code.

So here I am writing this long blog post summarizing the past seven months of my life. I am nestled in Pullman, the walls freshly painted, the art all hung, and the projects completed. Grateful for how things turned out as we look to what 2024 will bring.

Our new Pullman house, a one-level 1960 mid-century modern ranch. (PS The white fireplace is no longer white: think pink.)

One thing it will bring is a new painting studio in our backyard . . . . but I’ll save that for another post.

Happy New Year!

MIXT: Collage on Old Book Boards

Orly and I are friends who both live in Salem and share a love of old books. What started as an idea last fall, blossomed into something beautiful: a collaborative workshop with Orly and myself. We met to dream about what we would offer, to come up with a title, and to figure out how we would present the class.

Once our ideas began to take shape, we had several photos taken of us together, named our workshop MIXT: Collage on Old Book Boards, and decided that we would each teach two days in our four-day class. The class took place last week and was held in NE Portland at the gorgeous former studio of Flora Bowley. (An added benefit was that Orly and I got to stay at the studio, which has been made into an AirBnB – the commute to and from class was divine.)

Orly taught the first two days, and I taught the second two days. It was a whirlwind of tearing books apart, doing creative drawing exercises, playing with transfers, making our own painted collage papers, and creating the biggest mess we could. No words needed; the photos tell the story.

The workshop was a lovely success. The weather was perfect, and we were able to eat outside on the lovely grounds of the studio and take walks in the morning and evening. Everyone created a series of beautiful collages, incorporating the varied methods and ideas that both of us taught. There was laughter, silence, tears, the sound of paper being ripped, and the sound of a squeaky brayer. Orly and I deepened our friendship as we shared this time and experience together.

Lexicon of Collage: Daily Project for 2023

I love having a daily art project, something quick and easy and not too complicated. Having this type of project gets me into my studio, even on days when I only have a little bit of time or when I’m not feeling like painting or doing something big. Last year I kept a daily journal where I filled the pages with words, collages, and small paintings. One year I did a painting a day in a series of spiral bound journals. For this year, I am creating a collage each day and I have titled my project Lexicon of Collage. For my substrate, I am using matboard cut into 4×6 inch pieces (I ordered the matboard in a size of my choosing from Matboard and More, a company I have used for a lot of projects over the years).

For most of the collages I make, I use pieces of my hand painted papers, which I create using acrylic paint on various papers, i.e., drawing, deli, tissue, and paper bags. I divide these papers by color, making it easy to find just what I need.

When I’m ready to create a collage, I reach for my painted papers, text and typography, bits of ephemera, scraps from old books, and random pieces of collected papers. I audition the papers and when I have a composition I like, I start gluing using Golden semi-gloss soft gel medium.

Laying out a grid collage and preparing to glue.

Once I have glued down my collage material, I place a piece of wax paper over the collage and then a stack of heavy books on top (or a bag of rice), and let it dry for several hours (or overnight). Once the glue is set, I often have raggedy edges that I like to trim using an Xacto knife. Once the collages are trimmed, I apply a thin coat of Golden’s semi-gloss soft gel medium, the same medium I use for gluing the papers.

There are several benefits to having a daily project. As I mentioned above, this type of project gets me into my studio. But even more than propelling me to make art daily, it pushes me to experiment and play with a variety of compositions, unusual color combinations, and ways to create little pieces of art that hopefully take my breath away, that cause a gasp of delight, all the things that I want to happen in my bigger paintings. A bonus: I have already used some of my collages as inspirations for my paintings.

Another fun addition to this project is how I share my completed collages. About once a week, give or take, I share a grouping of collages I have created. I started inviting friends (and family) to be my guest collage flippers. I videotape my invited collage flipper and share the videos on Instagram. Here are some of my invited flippers.

Guest collage flipper: daughter Melissa.

Guest collage flipper: granddaughter Gabriella

Guest collage flipper: Stephanie Brockway

Guest collage flippers: son Scott and grandson Harrison.

For more regular updates on this project, follow on me on Instagram where I regularly post videos of my guest collage flippers and/or sign up for my monthly newsletter, where I do periodic updates about my Lexicon of Collage project.

My stack of collages as of the end of February.

Salem Reads 2023: Boundless Optimism

My January newsletter went out this week and in it I shared about my participation in the 2023 Salem Reads program. This community-wide reading event has been sponsored by the Salem Public Library Foundation since 2017. I was one of the original artists, and although I have been invited to participate each year since, I didn’t jump on the opportunity. . . .until this year. The chosen book is Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.

Invited artists were instructed to read the book and then create a piece of art in response. I listened to the book on Audible, which was read by Trevor; I loved hearing Trevor’s accent and his inflections, making for an enjoyable and humorous experience. The book was presented as a series of short stories, focusing on different eras of his life as a child and young man. The book was heartwarming, funny, tragic, tender, and ultimately a story of redemption as Trevor rose above his tough circumstances.

I was aware of apartheid and knew a little about it, but Trevor’s stories brought it alive through his eyes of a child growing up during the extreme segregation of whites and blacks.

In my artist statement, I was able to share what led me to create what I did for this exhibit.

As I read ‘Born a Crime,’ so many images swirled in my mind. Trevor was born to a black mother and a white father during the extreme racial segregation of South African apartheid. Despite their circumstances, Trevor’s mother demonstrated feistiness, determination, and perseverance. As Trevor matured, he exhibited many of the characteristics of his mother, carving out a life filled with humor, music, inventiveness, and friendship. Before I began my painting in response to ‘Born a Crime,’ I wrote out the text from the Immorality Act of 1927 across the surface of my board, reminding me of the laws in place when Trevor was conceived and born. I painted this piece with the idea of a young man rising out of the darkness of apartheid, which I translated into colors. I filled the niche with objects representing Trevor’s creativity, spirit, and abundance despite his circumstances.

The piece I created is 16×16 inches square and three inches deep, with a 5×5 inch niche filled with charms and small trinkets. I attached these small items using string, which I tacked to the top of the niche using vintage, colorful thumb tacks.

The 2023 show runs from February 1-25, and will be held in the Art Hall at the Salem Public Library. At the end of February, the show will be packed up and transported to a series of regional libraries; my piece will return to Salem in June.

If you’re interested in learning more about the pieces of art created for the show, several of the participating artists (myself included), appeared on Joel Zak’s KMUZ radio show, Talking About Art, last Friday. A recording of the show can be found on the KMUZ website by going HERE. During my segment, I talked about my motivation behind the piece of art I created for the show.

Interested in signing up for my newsletter? I send it out once a month and I share what I am doing, something about my art practice, special projects, a book review and recommendation, and an art quote. Follow this link to sign up.

Abstracted Flowers

Somewhere during the past couple of months, I decided to revisit painting abstracted flowers. I was prompted to do this series when I was looking at paintings that weren’t working for me. That isn’t unusual, I often cover over paintings and create new compositions. But the idea of painting flowers sprang up when I decided to cover the old paintings primarily with black paint, leaving a hint of the underpainting, and creating a wonky vase of long-stemmed flowers.

I have painted flowers in a variety of iterations, and I always enjoyed what I created. These are some of the older paintings that have long since sold.

“According to Sylvia Plath, the tulips are too excitable,” by Dayna Collins

“According to Sylvia Plath, the tulips should be behind bars,” by Dayna Collins

Fast forward to my current series. Many of these new paintings are 6×6 inches and were created for the Small Works show at Salem on the Edge. They proved to be popular, and most of the flower pieces sold within the first few days of the show. It was such a heartwarming affirmation of doing this new body of work. Here is a peek behind the scenes of my process:

And then photos of some of my new work:

“Hiding Places,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Ultimate Serenity,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Faintly Lit Night,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Avalanche of Thoughts,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“An Oasis of Quiet,” 12×12 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Wondrous Generosity,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“The Blur of Memories,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Wild Anticipation,” 12×12 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Familiar and Comforting,” 6×6 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Howling Joy,” 6×8 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

“Vibrancy and Optimism,” 12×12 inches, oil and cold wax on cradled panel, by Dayna Collins

There are a few abstracted flower paintings on my website, which you can find by clicking this LINK.

Because I loved these flowers so much, I had notecards printed so I can write thank you notes to those who purchase my paintings.

Word and Image: Writers and Artists in Dialogue

The Word and Image show is one of my favorite projects and it took place last month at the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita (on the Oregon coast). This event occurs biennially, and I was fortunate to have participated in 2020, so I was eager to apply for 2022. The process for the show goes like this:

Artists and writers are invited to submit samples of their work; artists submit three art images and writers submit three poems/short stories. The jury then chooses 12 artists and 12 writers. A pairing event is held where an artist’s name is pulled from a hat, then a writer’s name is pulled from a hat, and voila! those two are partners. The artist choses one of the three writing entries and creates a new piece of art in response to the words, likewise, the writer choses a piece of art from those submitted and writes a poem or short story in response. This new work is submitted electronically so beautiful broadsides can be printed and a book prepared and published.

MY PAINTING PROCESS

I chose to use an 18×28 inch cradled birch panel. I prepared it with acrylic paint, a layer of plaster, more acrylic paint to seal the plaster, and a couple layers of oil and cold wax. This was all the preparation to begin painting in response to the writer I was paired with, Simeon Dreyfuss. I chose Simeon’s poem, Walk Roots the Day as the piece I was using for my responsive painting. When the initial layers of my prepped board were completely dry, I wrote Simeon’s poem across the surface of my board.

I wrote Simeon’s poem on the surface of my board to incorporate his words with my paint.

I began adding layers of paint, looking for the poem to emerge.

I used my painting for a demo when I was teaching at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology this summer. The demo was how to scrape off paint!

After layers of paint, and scraping off a layer, I worked on this piece when I wasn’t teaching at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology – either early in the morning, or in the evening after my students had left for the day. It seemed appropriate to be painting this piece while I was at Cascade Head on the Oregon coast.

I played around with this design and color idea by painting a small piece on paper and a 12×12 inch piece on a cradled panel.

THE SHOW

Art was delivered to the gallery, art and broadsides were hung, an online reception was held, and a beautiful book was published.

The beautiful book that captures the work.

Two-page spread in the Word and Image book.

Opening reception: Simeon’s words in response to my painting, “Everything Feels Different.”

THE VISIT

A HAPPY POSTSCRIPT

As I was working on this blog post, I took a break to welcome Paula Booth into my home. Paula is a professor of art at Western Oregon University and also curates the art at two northwest hotels, The Dundee and The Independence. I am fortunate to have art at both hotels and we had made arrangements for Paula to come to my house to view my available work to change out some of my pieces at The Independence. I had just picked up Storm Mounting from the Hoffman Center for the Arts, and so it was one of my available pieces. Paula was excited to include this painting in the group of paintings she selected.

An Oil and Cold Wax Technique Pictorial

A gallon can of Gamblin’s Cold Wax Medium.

I am frequently asked about how to work with oil paint mixed with cold wax medium, especially on Instagram (you can find my Instagram at DaynaLovesArt). When I post videos of my process, I get a lot of interest and questions. Since I recently taught two four-day workshops in oil and cold wax at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, I thought I would post a series of photos of the process. Thank you to several of my students for taking photos and generously sharing them with me.

Mixing Gamblin’s Cold Wax Medium with their Galkyd (which helps speed the drying time).

Pulling out a bag of Fedrix powdered marble dust.

Mixing marble dust into Gamblin’s Cold Wax Medium and Galkyd. The marble dust acts as another agent to speed the drying time. It can also be used to thicken the consistency of the cold wax.

Mixing oil paint with the cold wax mixture. I mix 50/50: 50% oil paint with 50% cold wax medium (with the Galkyd & marble dust already added).

An early demo of applying oil and cold wax mixture to the painted cradled panel. I am using a flexible metal putty knife from the hardware store.

Using a brayer and wax paper, I am “lifting” paint and creating irregular texture on the surface of the board.

Applying a nice layer of paint to the painted surface (with words added before the paint). I then lay down a piece of wax paper to lift some of the paint to create interesting texture.

Showing the demo board with some of the techniques: applying paint, applying paint with a stencil, removing paint with a stencil, making marks.

Using wax paper to “lift” paint (and then that lifted paint will be applied to a different work in progress to move the orange paint around).

Using a brayer to apply a thin veil of white oil and cold wax (in the upper right corner) over dry oil and cold wax paint.

Applying a thin layer of cold wax in preparation for adding flecks of Pan Pastel.

Applying flecks of Pan Pastels using a small palette knife to scrape a tiny bit of the pastel onto the surface; a thin layer of cold wax applied so the flecks of pastel will adhere.

Tiny little flecks of red pastel add fun interest. Once the flecks have been added, I use a piece of wax paper over the surface and then brayer over the wax paper to embed the pastel.

Applying a layer of thinned out oil and cold wax (thinned with Gamblin’s Gamsol, oderless mineral spirits).

Spreading out the oil and cold wax with added Gamsol to thin out the paint mixture.

Spraying Gamblin’s Gamsol to thin out the swath of oil and cold wax to create drips.

Scraping off a layer of oil and cold wax using Citra Solv and a metal putty knife.*

Wiping paint from putty knife onto paper.

A beautiful comment from Angela, who has taken my class several times:

It was amazing to see you obliterate a piece, reveal fabulous lower layers and ultimately create your incredible composition. Seeing you do this in class was huge? The lesson in itself was the best possible, teaching us more by showing, creating and telling us your thoughts throughout. Angela

*This demo piece went on to become this painting:

“Storm Mounting,” the piece I created for an upcoming show, which I will be writing about soon.

If you are interested in more information about what I’m doing, books I recommend, techniques, shows, workshops, etc., please subscribe to my monthly newsletter by clicking HERE. In my September newsletter I will be sharing about my recent Personal Art Retreat, all the work that goes into creating art behind the scenes and sharing about the book Creative Authenticity.

Teaching at Sitka: Part 2

After my first oil and cold wax class at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology concluded on July 3, the staff at Sitka lugged all of my stuff from Smith Studio up to the larger Boyden Studio. I spent the evening getting set up for my second class. I love preparing the studio for teaching.

Evening of July 3: all set up for class to begin on July 5.

I spent July 4th enjoying the quiet of the Sitka campus. The office was closed, and no one was around, so I wandered, rested, and puttered in the studio. On July 5th, I was ready for the artists to arrive.

Distance view. I have three big tables to work on.

Like my last post, Teaching at Sitka – Part I, I feel that photos tell the story better than any words that I cobble together. I’ve made comments on each of the photos, so it tells a bit more about the week than just sharing the photos. But I will say, this group was hardworking, productive, energetic, talented, and supportive of each other. All the ingredients for a fantastic workshop.

Love the swaths of color, interrupted by marks.

Using wonky chunks of driftwood to make wonky marks.

Painting. Layering. Scraping. Contemplating.

More dots and such a great example of complementary colors.

We all thought this piece would make a fantastic album cover!

Margaret and her beautiful series using a limited palette.

I’m crazy for stripes and swaths of color – Carol nailed it.

I wanted to call this a “Carnival of Color,” but that’s just me.

So many ways to apply paint and make marks.

Applying paint to a very textural and three-dimensional piece.

An excellent example of a strata composition. And then there’s the color . . .

A beautiful series of lines, marks, and colors.

A lovely and simple abstracted landscape.

Pulling tape and revealing nine little paintings.

I love the solitude at the end of the day.

I have received such wonderful feedback from the artists in my class and I want to share two of the comments. Reading these inspiring and positive words make my heart swell and it is why I love teaching.

The first one from Carol:

I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a student in this class. It was amazing to meet Dayna in person, and to be present in her instruction. She provided a manual, many supplies, demos, readings, and many examples of her work in various stages. She was very engaged and provided such positive suggestions and constant energy. It was truly a great pleasure in an incredible setting. . . . I am still processing all that I learned and felt, and continue to feel so grateful. Thank you, Dayna. Terri

Teaching at Sitka: Part 1

I had the privilege of teaching two classes at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. The first, June 30-July 3, was in the smaller of the two studios at Sitka, Smith, and with ten students, it was the perfect space.

I taught two classes at Sitka, the first class was in the smaller, lower studio and the second class was in the spectacular upper studio, Boyden.

Because I was teaching two classes and they were back-to-back (I had the 4th of July off between the two classes), I got to stay at Morley House, which was a first for me. I loved this space!

This is where I got to stay for ten days: Morley House.

Now to the good stuff. The class. I could babble on about it, but instead I’m going to share photos – a fraction of the photos I took, but it gives a good look into our four days of art making. The group was talented, energetic, spirited, and hard workers — and they wanted to know if they could sign up for my 2023 class on the final day!

Brand new overalls! Soft fabric . . . and WHITE. I’m ready.

How I set up the oil paints I bring for the class to use.

An old wallpaper roller I bought at a flea market in Europe years ago was a huge hit.

Blotting with tissue paper, lifting paint, and moving paint around.

Carol experimenting with using a solvent to create drips.

Colorful, powerful, and fascinating example of a grid composition.

R&F Pigment Sticks – making a monoprint.

A beautiful, finished painting. Carol started this one in a class with me a few years ago, brought it with her, and brought it to a beautiful finish.

I love the variety of color and marks in this series.

This is a monoprint of the original oil and cold wax painting (Marc let me have the monoprint and it is hanging in my studio).

Ripping off tape to reveal small beauties.

And then I rested.