In the Studio – Page 2 – Dayna J Collins

Color Can’t Wait

Toward the end of March, my friend Lucy Hewitt texted me and asked if she could paint my portrait. She had been doing portraits of herself, and decided she wanted to branch out and start painting her art friends. I told her, “Of course, I’d be honored.” She wanted to schedule a time to come to my house and take some photos of me painting . . . with the caveat that she wanted me to be wearing my overalls and have curlers in my hair. Her strange request was prompted by a photo I had posted of me in my curlers on Instagram on March 16.

A date was set for photos, I washed my hair and put in my curlers. Lucy took photos of me getting ready to paint, then some action shots of me working.

Lucy had me stand in front of one of my big boards in progress – and then had me choose a pair of prop glasses she had brought along – I chose PINK!

In preparation for our photo shoot, Lucy had me write out words and phrases that describe me and my art. I was in the middle of #the100dayproject where I was creating art on scraps of brown paper bags, so I wrote my list on a scrap of bag.

Fast forward to a week ago when Lucy delivered the painting. My response was an emotional one as Lucy had captured me so wonderfully in paint. She titled the painting Color Can’t Wait. It was a gorgeous oil painting and Lucy captured every detail – from my earrings, to my bracelet, from the bright stripes of the background, to the sassiness in my stance.

On the back of the painting was a magical history of the painting, my words, and a poem that Lucy wrote (using my list of words and painted on the front of my overalls). She also shared how she likened my portrait to the Caryatids (a stone carving of a draped female figure, used as a pillar to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building). And she had written the word contrapposto (an asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with, while balancing, those of the hips and legs).

After Lucy had explained her inspiration and process, we called Howard in to see the portrait. His reaction was priceless; he laughed, saluted, then bowed down. As it should be.

When we asked Lucy if we could purchase the painting, she graciously consented. Howard and I both love having Color Can’t Wait in our Art House and have hung it in a place of honor.

Turns of the Kaleidoscope

Yesterday I dropped off 17 new plaster, oil, and cold wax paintings at Salem on the Edge for my show Turns of the Kaleidoscope. The pieces range in size from 12×12 inches, up to 30×60 inches, all created to be hung on 48 feet of wall space! When I began working on this series, I had trouble imagining filling that long, blank wall. But I did it with one painting to spare. (If you happen to see the show during the month of May, ask Melanie to see the 36×48 inch piece, Life’s Distractions and Enticements.)

Rather than blather about creating the pieces, I’m going to share my process with a series of photos, after all, this is a post about an art show. Here we go . . . .

Sealing the board with fluorescent paint.

A brand new gallon of Gamblin’s Cold Wax.

Doing a demo on Instagram about final coat of wax. (My IG: DaynaLovesArt)

Photographing paintings in the perfect outdoor light.

The namesake piece, “Turns of the Kaleidoscope.”

Howard carries in “Baffled Amazement,” one of three 36×48 inch pieces.

The beginning of the curating process by Melanie.

Happy that the pieces are at the gallery and ready to be hung.

How I Title My Paintings

I am often asked how I come up with the titles for my paintings, so I’m going to spill the beans. Whenever I’m reading a beautifully written novel, I keep a piece of paper and a pen handy to jot down portions of sentences or phrases that resonate with how the words are put together. I do the same when I am reading poetry, just taking a few of the words, or “word fragments,” and scribbling them on a scrap of paper. I keep all of my pieces of paper gathered together on a clipboard, which I then refer to when it is time to name a painting. And I get to use one of my vintage clipboards!

It is a bit of a wonky system, and takes some maneuvering, but it has worked for me for many years and I enjoy the process of looking through my scribbles and putting together new combinations of words from the word fragments on my scraps of paper.

I have painted hundreds of paintings over the years, but here is a sampling of my work and the titles I have chosen.

“A Narrow Illumination,” plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled birch panel, by Dayna J. Collins

“According to Sylvia Plath, the tulips are subtle, they seem to float,” plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled birch panel, by Dayna J. Collins

“A Protective Charm,” acrylic on 300 lb. watercolor paper, by Dayna J. Collins

“A Ghostly Process of Waves,” oil and cold wax on cradled birch panel, by Dayna J. Collins

“Small Bursts of Illumination,” acrylic on wood panel, mounted in floating frame, by Dayna J. Collins

“Fallen Sun,” oil and cold wax on cradled birch panel, by Dayna J. Collins

#the100dayproject – Halfway Through

On January 31st, I jumped into the #100dayproject. This project is facilitated by Lindsay Jean Thompson and you can learn more about the project by simply clicking right HERE. If you don’t feel like clicking, here is what the project is about:

Pick something you want to do every day for the 100 days of the project. You’ll post each instance of 100 on your Instagram account with the hashtag #The100DayProject. What can you do? Anything at all! Paint, draw, dance, knit, doodle, sing, brush your teeth. Once you have an idea, here are some practical tips: Make sure you can do it in 5-10 minutes a day. More time is nice if you have it, but if it’s a really time-consuming project you probably won’t do it every day. What are you curious about? What do you love to do just because? What do you want to get better at? Brainstorm with a friend or make a list of ideas. What have other people done that you find interesting? Or maybe your project is 100 days of figuring out what to do. That’s cool! Another good place to start is by thinking about what you want to get out of doing the project.

I decided I wanted to explore working on a non precious substrate and what is more non precious than brown paper bags. I carry my own reusable bags with me, but somehow I always seem to accumulate brown paper bags that I don’t throw away (or even recycle). It might be from when I order take out, or when I purchase something that doesn’t fit into the portable cloth bag I carry in my purse. For whatever reason, I decided to tear up an abundant resource and experiment with different kinds of art on a scrap of brown craft paper.

My first post on Instagram (you can find me at DaynaLovesArt) at the beginning of the project:

I’m jumping in to #the100dayproject and the challenge I’ve set up for my 100 day project is to paint a quick abstract painting or make paint marks on a scrap of a brown paper bag every day for 100 days. I needed something quick and easy, portable for my sometimes portable life, and a way to try out new ideas: colors, composition, marks…… and to create collage fodder for my stash…….and imagine the cool jumbo collage I can make with all of the brown paper bag painted scraps. #the100dayswithdayna 1/100

Now here it is 50 days later, the halfway point. Over the past 50 days I have created in my painting studio, in my basement studio, along the Oregon Coast, in Northern California, in Gig Harbor, and in Astoria. I get around. I have also used a multitude of materials, including (disclaimer: but not limited to): acrylic paint, Stabilo pencils, plaster, oil paint, cold wax, collage, black and white photos, book scraps, varnish, charcoal, Woody pencils, acrylic pens, and oil pastels.

I have already incorporated some of the pieces I have created in other projects, Salvage Collage on book boards, and in my 2021 journal.

In no particular order, here is a smattering of the pieces I have created on the lowly brown paper bag.

And only 50 more days to go!

The Collaborative Body

I was invited to participate in The Collaborative Body in October of 2020, a really cool, socially distanced group project at the Salem Art Association Art Annex. Kathy Dinges, the Community Arts Education Director at Salem Art Association, describes the project:

The Collaborative Body is a dynamic group project in which 17 artists collaborated to transform the Salem Art Association’s Annex! The project is loosely based on various ideas in the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, in which players would take turns drawing a portion of a body (head, torso, legs) on paper. The previous artist’s contribution was folded over and hidden until the end, when the paper was unfolded to reveal the “exquisite corpse” – the unusual, unplanned, and eclectic interpretation of the body. The ever-changing nature of this project is unlike the corpse– more like a series of interactions. It creates an interwoven, living piece of art, infused with the creative minds and practices of a variety of artists. Participating artists are Eilish Gormley, Rich McCloud, Corrine Loomis Dietz, Bonnie Hull, Erik Brambila, Grace Lundblade, Heidi Preuss Grew, Jessica Amos, Jo Hockenhull, Jim Hockenhull, Jodie Garrison, Katy Vigeland, Leo Cuanas, Cassandra Deatherage, Dayna Collins, Nicole Servin, and Tim Knight.

This project came together during covid19 in response to artists wanting to interact with other artists in a safe way, and encouraged playfulness, experimentation and collaboration.

Over the past six months, I made five appearances. I focused on doing photo transfers directly on the wall, which I embellished on subsequent visits (and other artists also added their own changes to the portraits). It was great fun and I recorded my experience through a series of photos.

On my first visit in early November, work on the walls had already started.

My plan for this first visit was to glue black and white portraits of Australian convicts onto the walls.

On my second visit in mid November, I went around to the portraits and using a wet sponge, began the process of removing the paper backing from the photocopies, leaving the inked image on the wall.

By the time I returned in early December, several of the portraits had been modified, embellished, and given new identities.

In January, I did some embellishing myself, adding bits of gold, crowns, and quotes.

I also pulled out paint and created some stripes of color on a blank portion of wall.

On my final visit the first of February, lots had happened.

And in no particular order, some photos from the many walls over the past few months.

What a great project, and it was a treat to be included.

Create Whimsy: Spotlight Artist

In December, I was invited by my friend Chardel to be the Spotlight Artist in Create Whimsy, an online journal/photo album. The publication is filled with photos and articles, but defies a typical format so I asked Chardel, the editor at Create Whimsy, to describe their format and mission.

At Create Whimsy, we’re artists, builders, makers, crafters and creators – just like you. We share the stories of makers and what they make, inspiring creativity in our everyday lives. But we’re more than a photo album. We not only want to see what you create, we want to know what inspired you, how you did it, the insights you learned in the process. That’s what we are passionate about, and it’s the kind of website we wanted to create. Finding inspiration is important, and so is finding help from a community. That’s what we strive for. The journeys of other artists inspire us in our own work, so that’s what we hope to achieve for our readers – validation for what you are doing or the catalyst to try a new direction. And eye candy. We delight in eye candy! We hope that Create Whimsy gives you the confidence to make some art and show it off! We are happy to answer questions at hello@createwhimsy.com

December got busy and turned into January, my show at RiverSea Gallery in Astoria was delivered and hung, the opening reception took place, and then my attention turned to a long list of interview questions provided by Chardel. Early one morning I sat down at my desk and began the arduous task of writing responses. A first draft was generated, reviewed, revised, and then given to my personal editor (aka Howard), who worked his magic, crossing some sentences out, offering suggestions in different areas, then back to my computer to clean up the marked up, illegible notes.

I was asked to provide photos, which led me down the rabbit hole of trying to decide which images to send. I work in several mediums, so I did lots of digging into my online photo albums, looking for photos that convey what I do. I sent too many photos to Chardel and to Lynn, the journal’s CEO and founder, for them to choose which photos to use and to get my photos formatted for their publication.

And as if by magic, Lynn and Chardel sent me a link to my Spotlight Feature. I was kind of verklempt as I read through the article where I was given such generous space, all of my words along with a series of photos were there. It is with great pleasure and delight that I share the article with you. Here is the link: Spotlight: Dayna Collins, Mixed Media Artist

If you would like to see more of Create Whimsy, they can be found here on Instagram and on Facebook

Surprise! Circles, Stripes, and Color

I don’t ever crave extraordinary moments anymore. Just small, gentle hums of beauty streaming from below, above, and beyond simply from paying attention. Sound. Light. Shadow. Art. Warmth. The night. The morning. Dreams that are not faraway but exist right here — already in my days, hands, and heart.

Victoria Erickson

One of the projects I’ve started working on is actually a resumption of something I started a year ago, a series of long, slender, wood cradled panels (4×48 inches). All five boards had been painted black with some bands of color already added, but today I pulled them out of the basement, hung them on my rolling wall, and while painting a large canvas on the opposite wall (another long abandoned project resurrected last week), I used the leftover paint from that painting on the tall, slender panels. Layer by layer, band by band. I know that the swaths of color I used to create my Emotional Alignments series influenced this current project. Bands and swaths again, but a bit wonkier and whimsical. At least for today. I’ll be working on these right on into the new year.

Some close-up peeks from different sections of the five panels:

Now What?

Painting should call out to the viewer . . . and the surprised viewer should go to it, as if entering a conversation.

Roger de Piles, 1676

The dust has hardly settled and I’m already looking ahead to 2021, although I’ve got a jump start on a couple of projects while it is still 2020. But first, my show at RiverSea, Emotional Alignments, gets hung next week and the opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 9, from 12-8 pm during the Astoria Art Walk. I’ll be at the gallery that evening from 5-8 pm if you happen to be out and about.

Nine of 20 pieces in the Emotional Alignments show, opening January 9, 2021, at RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon

Most people would probably wait until after a show has opened before starting work on another show, but I’m not most people. So forward I go, taking full advantage of making art during a pandemic. Early preparations have begun for a May, 2021 show at Salem on the Edge. Very preliminary preparations, lining up which boards I want to use, getting them painted, plaster applied, sanding them outside (weather permitting), and then getting them sealed and ready for applying oil and cold wax. As of this writing, I have no idea what my theme or composition will be – that will come in the new year.

In my next post, I’ll share about another project I’m currently working on . . . . .

Subjectiv. A journal of visual and literary arts

I am delighted to share the Fall 2020 issue of Subjectiv: A Journal of Visual and Literary Arts. This is a stunning online journal, filled to the brim with art and words. Riis Griffen is the editor and C.W. Griffen is responsible for the layout. I was contacted by Riis the end of August, asking if I would be the featured artist for their In the Studio article. Hello, yes, please.

Interview questions were sent, answers written out, photos were taken, photos were edited. And now here it is, in living color, a beautiful reminder of how art and words heal, help us process, bring joy, teach us to solve problems, and as Riis says in the opening of this issue, I hope you can find a few moments of peace browsing through these pages, and enjoy a break from the tumult of the world.

There are two ways to view Subjectiv. You can go to the website by clicking HERE (you can also see past issues by using this link). Or if you prefer to view it in a magazine format, click HERE.