Matzke Fine Art and Design

Donna Watson

Donna Watson is a mixed media artist, juror, and mentor. Her work is represented in galleries, and she travels all over the world as a workshop instructor. Her work has been published in numerous books and art magazines.

Winter Light

During the winter months, do you stop and look at the tangles of roots, dead leaves and stems, dead weeds… as they twist around each other? Do you see  the leaf skeletons, and the dead flowers that have dried to powder and are now dust on the ground? Seed pods have also dropped onto the ground and are invisible to our eyes.  Deep into the brown sleeping dirt these seed pods rest, waiting. The earth sleeps in this darkness, knowing that the seasons change every year. Even in darkest winter, radiant things are bursting forth in the darkest places of the hidden world. Darkness turns toward the light. Renewal and spring will soon come again. There is magic happening underground, as nature is preparing for a new cycle…renewal that is rekindling hope, seeking new inspiration and new beginning….winter light.

She uses acrylic paint with rice papers and digital imagery.   She layers the paint, scratching and rubbing into the layers, leaving a residue of marks much like the themes she is trying to convey.

“I view my work as an ongoing process of search, and self-examination. I am interested in the passage of time, and what remains. I explore the effects of time on memory, identity and nature. My work is a reflection of the transient cycle of life. With the passage of time there is a transience depicted with traces, recollections, faded memory, and layers. There is also an enduring permanence to the recurring cycle. I hope my work is an expression of the personal within the universal, the cycle further completed when the viewer brings his/her own piece of history to the meaning of the painting.”

Donna is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, and the National Watercolor Society.  She has won numerous awards in national juried exhibitions as well as best of show awards. She has articles and paintings published in American Artist magazine, The Artist Magazine, Watercolor and Watercolor Magic magazines.

Donna  has been juror and/or workshop instructor for the National Watercolor Society, Watercolor Society of Oregon, Florida Watercolor Society, Ottawa Mixed Media Artists, Ohio Creativity Seminar, and National Watercolor Oklahoma to name a few.

Call 360-387-2759 or email: matzke@camano.net to purchase.