I have recently found inspiration in the romantic figurative paintings of Donna Young, a western American artist.
I am interested in how she has allowed herself the freedom to detach her figures from existing backgrounds and as a result found freedom to play with shape, line, pattern, colour and layers. I like her decisions about structure and design and how she places the figure in space. There is an energy and movement that pulls you in. You want to linger.
“I use thick impasto combined with thin glazes. While focusing on limited details of the figure, I let the background fall away into a calming open space. With my first love of drawing, I drag the charcoal across the texture letting my inner child play. This gives me immediate gratification and adds yet another visual element to the piece.
Separating the figures from the backgrounds creates a harmonious arrangement – without the need of too much realistic structures for support.
After so many years of realistic painting, I have gradually been moving into more a contemporary style. I found it to be simply a matter of giving myself permission to unlearn my past ways of seeing and interpreting.”
