Waterlines – Dayna J Collins

The Arduous Task of Preparing for a Show

For the past couple of months I have put my nose to the grindstone. Being in the middle of a pandemic, life outside my house has been meager, so in many ways this has been the ideal time to put myself into a self-imposed studio timeout. I had the opportunity for a show at RiverSea Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in Astoria on the Oregon Coast. I have had art there for several years, I’ve been in group shows, and two years ago I had a show with my friend Stephanie Brockway. I had been thinking about asking for a solo show, but had never approached the gallery owner, Jeannine. Until October. I met with Jeannine and because of the pandemic, she was juggling the rescheduling of shows from 2020 into 2021; then she said that an artist had just cancelled for January 2021 and I could have that slot. In the big gallery. Gulp. Yes, please. Let the madness begin.

I work in layers. Many layers. It goes ~~something~~ like this. Gathering boards and painting them with a layer of acrylic or house paint. Once dry, I slather on a layer of plaster, which needs to dry overnight. The plastered boards are then schlepped outside to be lightly sanded, brought back into the studio, and sealed with a layer of acrylic stain. I like to baptize my boards with words, so I usually scribble a quote or something about how I’m feeling. Then I’m ready to begin actually painting. Because words don’t quite capture the physicality of this process, here is my photo essay depicting the first round of layers.

Now the boards are ready for painting.

When I originally pitched my show to Jeannine, my idea was for a show about waterlines, something I have been passionate about exploring for years. But as I began applying the initial layers of oil and cold wax, I realized the show was no longer about waterlines. When I needed to send an image to Jeannine for her November newsletter, I sent her this message:

I have been consistently working since we met in October, moving forward with the theme of Waterlines. I prepped 15 boards (20×20 inches up to 40×40 inches) with acrylic, plaster, acrylic, and then one to two layers of oil paint mixed with cold wax. As I began the process of reconciling the under layers with a finished composition, it became apparent that my heart wasn’t in a strict interpretation of waterlines. My original vision for the show was bold swaths of color representing waterlines, but as I began applying paint in bright bands of color, I realized what I was experiencing was more than waterlines; it was an emotional response to 2020: the pandemic, politics, and wildfires (as well as a series of personal family hardships). Waterlines always find their way into my pieces as inspiration, but this show isn’t about waterlines, but my emotional response to 2020. So things have changed a bit. I have titled the show: EMOTIONAL ALIGNMENTS. Once I started making this shift last week, my painting took off. I start my days enthusiastic and excited to get into the studio.

In my next post, I’ll share about the evolution of my paintings (now at 20 works in various stages of completion) using oil paint mixed with cold wax medium . . . . and the many hours I spend in my studio.

2017 Was a Wild Ride!

The past year has been the most exciting and exhilarating of my art career. It all stared in the fall of 2016 when I told people, I have nothing major on my calendar for the upcoming year. I plan to just play and explore. And then everything changed . . . .

I’ve blogged about most of these events, but here is an abbreviated summary of my 2017 art life.

Spare Parts Show at the Salem Public Library

Art Featured in New Book: Cold Wax Medium

Solo Show at Guardino Gallery: Waterlines

Salem Art Association Mentorship Program

Taught an Oil and Cold Wax Class at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology

Private Master Class with Pat Wheeler

Two Person Show at Borland Gallery

11th Annual Day of the Dead Show at Guardino Gallery

Artist in Residence at the Salem Art Association Art Annex

Salem Art Association Panel Discussion

What’s Your Story Workshop

Symbols Show at the Art Annex

Guest on KMUZ Talking About Art

Sitka Art Invitational

17th Annual Guardino Gallery Little Things Show

BEST IN SHOW Something Red Art Walk

It was a great year. And I’m not making any proclamations about 2018. Mum’s the word.

Sitka Class: Abstracted Waterlines in Oil and Cold Wax

Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end, of the day. Winston S. Churchill

A dream came true last week when I taught a four-day class at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, located on the Oregon Coast at Cascade Head. I have taken many classes at Sitka over the years and many of those classes helped shape me as an abstract artist, so it felt satisfying and exhilarating to be standing on the other side of the table.

I arrived at the forested campus on Sunday evening and got settled into my private cabin, located just a few steps from Boyden Studio, where my class was to be held.

A couple of people offered to help me get the studio set up, but this was something I wanted to do by myself. I was feeling emotional and sentimental about teaching at Sitka, and I just wanted to fully experience it in solitude.

Monday morning I arrived early, ready for the day to begin and feeling just a tiny bit anxious.

Students began to arrive and get settled in. . . . . and then the next four days were a glorious blur of demos, activating boards, spreading paint, discussing how to let go, experimenting with new techniques, and making brave, bold marks.

Throughout the week, some artists arrived early in the morning, some stayed a little late into the evening, but there were three hearty souls who arrived early and stayed very late into the evening.

One night several of us went out to dinner in Pacific City and stopped to visit Lynne’s studio.

Boyden Studio was a blur of camaraderie and activity with artists working independently at times, other times soliciting feedback and ideas from each other.

The weather was good for three of the four days and we were able to take advantage of the outdoors to eat lunch, lay out our boards, and occasionally relax.

I had fun doing demos every day (even when they didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned!).

At times everyone worked hard, other times they kicked back.

I went into the studio early every morning to prepare for the day and enjoy the remnants of the previous day’s energy.

For the majority of time, everyone got into a zone, the flow state of letting go and laying down layers for the pure pleasure of experiencing the paint.

On Thursday afternoon we did a show ‘n tell and walkabout.

Here’s a sampling of what was created over the four days.

It was an amazing experience and the perfect mix of students.

Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art. Neil Gaiman

Waterlines: The Opening Reception

Last night was the opening reception for my Waterlines show at Guardino Gallery. It was a magical evening with a steady flow of people stopping by to see my show in the Feature Gallery and Mar’s show in the Main Gallery. Words? Not so much. But photos? Yes, please.

Guardino Gallery is located at 2939 NE Alberta and the show runs through May 21.

Waterlines: Hanging the Show

My upcoming show, Waterlines, opens on Thursday, April 27th, with a reception from 6-9 pm. Yesterday was hanging day and it all went very smoothly thanks to Donna Guardino’s savvy eye and her assistant Gail’s infectious energy. My husband helped wherever needed, while I sort of stood around and watched everyone work. It’s exciting to watch a show come together after months of painting in solitude. From a blank gallery space . . .

. . . to watching Donna triage my art . . . .

. . . to auditioning different possibilities.

In no time at all, the hanging frenzy began.

Meanwhile, I schlepped painted driftwood from the car to the gallery for use in the front display window.

And within the span of two hours, the show was hung and the pieces numbered and ready for title cards to be hung. In the end, the show features 39 pieces of art, from 5×5 inches to 36×48 inches.

Here’s all the info on the show. Hope to see you tomorrow night.

Waterlines Art Show: Making Headway

“Where the Blue is Deep and Soft and Silent,” 24×24 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

I am happy to share the news that I’m having a show at Guardino Gallery in NE Portland. My show is titled Waterlines and I’ve been painting and preparing for almost a year, although I’ve been experimenting and painting waterlines for the past three years. My fascination with waterlines began as a child. Growing up as the daughter of a river rat on the Columbia River, plus time spent at my grandparent’s beach cabin on the Oregon Coast, I learned to love waterlines at an early age. In the summer of 2014, as I was floating in the Columbia River, I noticed the waterline on a boat. I was captivated by the beautiful colors and imagined it as an abstract painting.

“The Wind Stilled Itself,” 10x10x2 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

I like to describe waterlines as: Where water meets an edge. A shoreline. The hull of a ship. The sand. Riverbanks. Sky. In exploring various forms of waterlines, I am especially interested in experimenting with the intersections, where water meets the land. I ask myself, “What’s happening at the horizon line? Turbulence or ripples. Calmness or agitation. What’s above, or, what’s below.

“The Turmoil of Raging Tides,” 12×12 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

Drawing upon the flexibility of working with oil paint mixed with cold wax medium and sometimes R and F Pigment Sticks, I am able to create layers of color using palette and putty knives to apply, push, pull, and scrape the layers of paint to reveal and explore the rick complexity of water, land, and sky.

“Sweet Blue Rhythm,” 8×8 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

The show opens Thursday, April 27 and runs through May 21st. The opening reception is Thursday, April 27th from 6-9 pm.

“Heat Waves Buckling the Air,” 11×14 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

Up, Down, and All Around

I am working on three different projects right now, in three different studios. Come on, I’ll take you on a quick tour.

This is a look at my second floor studio located at the Willamette Heritage Center and part of The Art Studios at Mission Mill. I have converted my studio from an all purpose space to an area devoted to working on my What’s Your Story mixed media/collage project.

Here’s a sample of my project.

At my central Salem home, I use the basement of my 1926 house as my assemblage studio. Currently, I’m putting the finishing touches on a piece for the Salem Reads: One Book, One Community Project. Salem is hosting their first ever community reads event and several artists were invited to create a piece of art in response to the book Spare Parts.

My piece, Everything Accounted For, will be hung in the Salem Library Spare Parts art exhibit at the end of this month. I’ll share my completed piece once I have put the finishing touches on it.

Finally, my painting studio is in a big airy space upstairs at my house. Right now, I’m immersed in oil and cold wax in preparation for two upcoming shows in 2017.

Here’s a piece I’ve been working on this week for my Waterlines show at Guardino Gallery in May.

I’ll be sharing more about all of these projects in the future.

Big News: I’m teaching oil and cold wax at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology!

I began painting about 12 years ago, primarily in acrylic and occasionally in some form of mixed media. In 2012 I took a class that changed my painting life. The class was Abstract Oil Painting with Oil and Cold with Allen Cox and the class was held at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. It wasn’t my first class there, but it was when I learned to paint using cold wax medium, Galkyd, and oil paint, all mixed together into a glorious luminous concoction that was spread using palette and putty knives. It was also the first time I really figured out how to use oil paint sticks. I was hooked.

Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. It is a magical place located in the woods at Cascade Head on the Oregon Coast. This explains what Sitka is about:
Founded in 1970, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology fosters creativity, intellectual inquiry and education. By helping others discover more about their core creative selves and their connections to nature, the Sitka Center works to fulfill its mission of expanding the relationships between art, nature and humanity.

The Sitka Center offers workshops, residencies and community events, while maintaining a facility appropriate to its needs in harmony with its inspirational coastal environment near Cascade Head and the Salmon River estuary. Literally a center at the edge – where land meets sky, saltwater meets freshwater – the Sitka Center is a place where a diverse group of people and ideas converge, co-mingle and depart transformed.

Our Workshop Program (May through September) provides people of all levels the transformative and joyful experience of making art and exploring their connections to nature. We offer over 100 one- to five-day intensives on drawing, painting, music, nature, woodworking, encaustics, food, sculpture, fiber arts, kayaking, jewelry, metal work, photography, printmaking, and writing. Professional artists and ecology experts guide the instruction in one of the Center’s five studios or outdoors in the natural environment of Cascade Head and Salmon River estuary. The annual workshop catalog is available in print and online in February each year.

Which leads me to the heart of my news: I’m teaching an oil and cold wax class at Sitka next summer! Pinch me. It has been a dream for a long time. I’ve taken some amazing classes at Sitka, had fabulous teachers, hiked to the top of Cascade Head, roamed in the woods surrounding the Center, and made art that is hanging in several homes.

My class is called Abstracted Waterlines in Oil and Cold Wax. In determining the theme for my class, I wanted to incorporate the landscape as inspiration, so using the ocean, river, and estuary as a jumping off point, we will take where water meets land and abstract it into a series of compositions.

The class is scheduled for June 5-8 (four full days) and will be held in Boyden. Pinch me again. I’ve taken all of my classes in that large wood lined studio and to have the privilege to teach in that sacred place, well, I’m a bit verklempt. The cost for the four-day class is $400, with a materials fee of $20 (I bring and share a lot of supplies).

Registration doesn’t open until February, 2017, (February for members, but you can join for as little as $50 and have the opportunity to register in February), and registration for everyone opens in March (the Sitka website has all of the dates listed). The dates of my class (June 5-8, 2017) have now been confirmed.

In the class we’ll be working on several boards at the same time, along with working on Arches Oil Paper (or if you prefer, you can work exclusively on the miracle known as Arches Oil Paper). We will experiment with working in layers, building texture, scraping away, and then doing it all over again.

We will work intuitively and abstractly, exploring texture, layers, composition and design, and use of color through oil paint and pigment sticks. We’ll also work with various forms of mark-making, adding energy and interest through the use of lines and marks. The layers dry quickly and clean up is done with baby or mineral oil. You will complete several pieces during the four days and go home with several starts. The class is designed for all levels of expertise and no prior experience is needed.

I’m sharing all of this now so you have time to mark your calendars, maybe ask for the class as a holiday gift, or perhaps get a couple of friends rounded up to rent a house in Lincoln City, Pacific City, or one of the vacation homes right at Cascade Head.

Please contact me if you have any questions about the class, mediums, or the process. My e-mail is: dayna@alleyartstudio.com

Waterlines: Life On and Near the Water

My fascination with waterlines started the summer of 2014 when I was floating in the Columbia River and I saw the waterline of our boat, Rapture. I was captivated by the beautiful colors and thought it looked like an abstract painting.

I continued to love the idea of waterlines, at first the hulls of ships, then shifting to more natural waterlines, defining waterlines as “Where water meets an edge. A shoreline. The hull of a ship. The sea meets the sand. A passage of water.”

A few months ago it was decided that our July show at Compass Gallery would be titled Waterlines. I started painting with that theme in mind. The paint flowed easily because I was excited about the topic and the vast possibilities.

At the last minute we decided to spend two weeks on board Rapture at the Portland Waterfront. Our show would be hung two days after we returned, so I had no choice but to pack up my substrates, oil paints, cold wax, pigment sticks, and the tools associated with laying down and scraping off paint. I set up an impromptu studio in the galley of our boat and painted whenever I could.

I spread out plastic table cloths in the helm, on the coffee table, and on the back deck. Things dried quickly because it was warm, windy, and bright – all three things that encourage oil and cold wax to dry.

I’m sure the gentle rocking of the boat influenced my work, as did the view out of every window and porthole. I created a couple dozen pieces, ranging in size from 6×6 inches to 12×24. Fortunately they were dry by the time we made the cruise from the Willamette River back to the Columbia where we moor our boat.

Here’s a look at some of the pieces I created during our two weeks living on board Rapture.

"Caught Up in Waterweeds" — “Caught Up in Waterweeds”

"A Thrilling Release of Earth and Air" — “A Thrilling Release of Earth and Air”

"A Small Current of Power" — “A Small Current of Power”

"The Air Was Perfumed" — “The Air Was Perfumed”

"Mist Rose From the Water" — “Mist Rose From the Water”

"Memory Floating Up" — “Memory Floating Up”

The show at Compass Gallery, Waterlines, runs July 8 through August 3, 2016. The opening reception is Thursday, July 14, 5-7 pm.

In addition to my work, the current show features the work of Bonnie Hull and her interpretation of waterlines.

The Anatomy of a Painting

One of the paintings I did for Ricochet (click HERE to learn about this upcoming collaborative show) was month #10, September, 2014, when our theme was WATER. I knew immediately what I wanted to paint: the waterline of a ship.

The back story. We have a boat, which we moor on the Columbia River in Portland. In August, we went out for a weekend of boat camping with our daughters and grandkids. The weather was perfect and in a rare burst of exuberance, I put on my suit and jumped in the river for a float on the inner tube. While I was in the water, I noticed the waterline of our boat. It was a beautiful array of colorful patinas. I had someone carefully hand me my camera and I snapped a shot, thinking what a great painting it would make.

Fast forward to September. I dug out the photos I had taken and also looked on the internet for rusty ship hull waterlines. Oh, so many possibilities. I scooped up all the images and chose one for this project.

Then it was paint day with Cynthia.