Oil and cold wax – Page 5 – Dayna J Collins

Best in Show!

The 15th annual Something Red Show and Art Walk, sponsored by our local art group, Artists in Action, kicked off on Wednesday night. Artists were invited to submit two pieces of art featuring the color red, which were then juried and placed in locations around downtown Salem. Maps were provided so people were able to take a self-guided art walk to see the 100 entries. The jurors for this year’s show were: David Wilson (Gallery Director at the Bush Barn Art Center, Salem Art Association), Mary Lou Zeek (Gallery Owner and Art Consultant), and Thomas Rudd (Professional Artist/Sculptor and Gallery Curator). One of my pieces was chosen by the owner of Wild Pear Restaurant and the other piece was placed at Elsinore Framing and Fine Art Gallery.

Wednesday night was chilly, but clear and dry, so we bundled up and did the art walk. We found Filaments of Memory in the window of Wild Pear Restaurant, and slipped inside for a photo.

We continued on the walk, ending up at the Elsinore Gallery and Frame Shop, where my other piece, A Seasonal Echo, was hanging with other entries in the special exhibits gallery.

The awards ceremony took place at 7:30 and the room was packed with members and guests. Awards were given for several Bests: Use of Red, Digital, Photography, 3D, 2D, Youth, as well as two Honorable Mentions and two Juror’s Choice. I didn’t know how many awards were to be given out, or what the categories were, so as the awards ceremony was coming to an end, it was announced they would give out the final award, Best in Show. When my name was called, I was so shocked, I didn’t comprehend that I had won. In additional to a big, beautiful ribbon, I received an award of $100! I had no idea there was money involved.

When Howard I left for the evening, we walked back over to Wild Pear Restaurant, so I could stand in front of the window with my Best in Show ribbon.

“Filaments of Memory,” 24×24, plaster, oil, and cold wax, from my Evoke Series, by Dayna J. Collins.

Sitka Art Invitational

This premier event is taking place this weekend and I am one of the lucky participating artists. I submitted three pieces of art, all loosely related to ecology and nature.

“Magnetic Attraction,” 18 x 18 inches, plaster, oil and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“The Smell of Salt Lingered in the Air,” 20 x 20 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“A Seasonal Echo,” 12 x 42 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

Friday night was the opening reception, Party With the Artists. Every inch of the exhibition hall was packed with artists, art lovers, and collectors. There were delicious appetizers, drinks, and live music, and of course, lots of art filling the space.

I don’t know if any of my pieces have sold, I’ll find out later today, but fingers crossed that I won’t be bringing all three pieces back home.

Beach Retreat

Twice a year my Salem Art Group goes on an art retreat, one in the mountains along the Metolius River and the other at the Oregon Coast. For October, we were off to Cutler City to stay at a friend’s beach house, which is perched on a small hill with a view of the Siletz Bay. I rode with Tory, and if you’ve followed by blog for any length of time, the photo of my stuff lined up on my patio is familiar.

Six of our eight art group members were able to make our beach retreat.

Starting at the left and around the horn: Katy, Tory, Bonnie, Dayna, Susan, Nancy

In a nutshell, we spent three full days making art. Of course, there were walks, lattes, chatting, a movie on the life of Eva Hesse, reading, laughing, and a bit of sleeping.

New oil and cold wax work by Dayna J. Collins

In our spare time, we all made a little journal.

Visual Journal by Dayna J. Collins. Created using posters torn off of European walls and layered with family photos.

And then it was time to load up and head home.

Hanging the Show: Pathways and Passages

First thing Monday morning, I drove out to Silverton and met up with Nancy Eng to hang our new show, Pathways and Passages. Hanging days are like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle. We both brought a lot of art, too much to hang everything, so we auditioned the pieces we had, moved things around until we found a place for most everything, and put the remaining pieces in storage. When something sells, the purchaser can take it with them if they are from out of town, and we can replace the piece on the wall with something from inventory. Here’s how our morning went.

A blank canvas at Silverton Arts Association Borland Gallery.

Dayna spread out her art in advance of hanging.

Dayna hangs her pieces. All of her paintings are plaster, oil, and cold wax on wood substrates.

Merging the art of Dayna J. Collins and Nancy Eng.

The art of Dayna J. Collins on the left and Nancy Eng on the right.

“Dangerous Waters 1, 2, 3,” plaster, oil, and cold wax by Dayna J. Collins.

Little oil and cold wax pieces by Dayna J. Collins.

New series by Dayna J. Collins. Plaster, oil, and cold wax.

And then before we knew it, the show was up and we were finished.

Artists: Dayna J. Collins and Nancy Eng.

The opening reception is Friday, August 4, from 6-9 pm. Borland Gallery is part of the Silverton Arts Association and is located on the banks of Silver Creek in historic Coolidge-McClaine Park in Silverton.

A New Show: Pathways & Passages

About a year ago, I was invited to have a show along with my artist friend Nancy Eng, at Borland Gallery in Silverton. The gallery is part of the Silverton Arts Association, a long time artist organization in the quaint community of Silverton, which is located about 20 minutes east of Salem. Nancy had the idea for the theme of our show, Pathways & Passages, which was easy to translate into abstract landscapes and non-representational work.

Last week I stopped by the gallery for one last look before we hang next week.

I finished my pieces last week, and this week I have been doing the tedious, but necessary, work of assigning inventory numbers, giving them all titles, signing and pricing them, taking photos, and then packaging everything for transport.

Here’s a preview of some of the pieces that will be in the show. They range in size from 6×6 inches up to 30×60 inches, with lots of pieces in between.

“History Racing Past,” plaster, oil, and cold wax by Dayna J. Collins.

“A Glimmer of Understanding Took Hold,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“The Thrill of Discovery,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“Memory Had Vanished,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“A Moment of Stillness,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“The Garden Seemed Enchanted,” plaster, oil, and cold wax by Dayna J. Collins.

“Along the Shore,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“Symbiotic Relationship,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

“Looking Backward in Time,” plaster, oil, and cold wax, by Dayna J. Collins.

The opening reception is Friday, August 4th, from 6-9 pm. If you can’t make it then, a great weekend to visit would be the weekend of August 19 and 20, when the Silverton Fine Arts Festival is going on. The gallery will be open, and the festival will be taking place at the same location, nestled in the woods of the historic Coolidge-McClaine Park on the banks of Silver Creek.

Art Camp in the Woods

I recently went with four members of my Salem Art Group to make art in the woods. This is my kind of camping. The cabin belongs to the family of Katy, one of our members, and is located along the Metolius River in Camp Sherman, which is located in Central Oregon. This is an annual trip, where we do five basic things: eat, art, read, walk, and laugh. Repeat.

We arrived on Sunday and got set up to make art outside under the trees. My goal was to get layers of oil and cold wax onto boards in preparation for an upcoming show. Mission accomplished.

In the evenings (and the mornings, and sometimes in the afternoon), we all created little art journals, which Bonnie had made for us. One night we even worked outside by candlelight.

There was lots of creative food preparation and dining on the deck.

There were a couple of wildflower walks.

There was lots of sketching.

And lots of outdoor painting.

Here are the pages of my completed journal, which I titled By the River: A Make Do Journal. My title reflects that I had no art journaling supplies along with me, so the pages were created using what I could forage either from outside, the junk drawer at the cabin, or from my fellow artists who planned ahead much better than I did. It was fun having to make do.

What a restful, peaceful, energizing four days.

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

The Book: “Cold Wax Medium-Techniques, Concepts & Conversations”

It’s finally in my hands: my copy of the newly published and released book Cold Wax Medium – Techniques, Concepts, and Conversations by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin. I was invited in mid 2015 to submit photos of my art for possible inclusion in Rebecca and Jerry’s book project. A contract was signed in July, 2015, and now the book has arrived. It contains 319 gorgeous pages – full color, dreamy heavy paper, and chock full of beautiful art, techniques, and ideas. (Preorders have ended, but general sales begin May 12 and you can place your order by going here.)

These are the two pieces of my art that appear in the book (pages 68 and 229):

“Insatiably Curious,” 16×16 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax, 2015, from my Ricochet series. SOLD.

“Things Still Remembered,” 24×24 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax, 2014. SOLD

The two images included in the book were both pieces that had incorporated niches into the substrate and subsequent composition. Here are the pages as they appear in Rebecca and Jerry’s book.

A bit of the text:

I can’t wait to sit down and begin reading through this compendium of everything oil and cold wax. And more.

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.