Sacred Home Rendered on Paper

Sandra Dunn of Medicine Park, Oklahoma is this week's guest blogger for the Artist as Collector Series.

Forest
Watercolor
5" x 7"
©ValeriannaClaff

Valerianna Claff is an artist living in the densely forested foothills of western Massachusetts.

We formed a friendship through our blogs and she gifted me with "Forest" - a seedling

painting of her much larger watercolors in the same series.  

Glowing moonlight invites me into the painting's primal and peaceful forest - a place that

Valerianna calls "sacred home."  Sweeping tonal washes and simple brushstrokes create a magical

landscape that leaves so much to my imagination.  I appreciate her love of nature and the intimate connection she seems to have with her native woods.  

There seems to be an effortless and tender translation from her heart to rendering on paper of these things. 

Sandra Dunn is a painter working primarily in encaustic, and is inspired by nature, spirit, emotion and imagination.

Kindred Spirits- Artist as Collector

Colorado based artist, Rebecca Dierickx Taylor is our guest blogger this week for the Artist as Collector Series.

Sandra Dunn, Tephra
Encaustic on panel
3" x 3"
©SandraDunn
collection of Rebecca Dierickx Taylor

Sandra Dunn and I were introduced by a mutual friend when I was living in Oklahoma. When I met Sandra it was like conversing with a sister I never had.   Then when I saw her artwork I truly felt that we were on the same wavelength.  Sandra told me she likes to “connect the dots” in her artwork between nature and spirit. And like me, she works in multiple mediums—painting, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media. With her encaustics, she says she might have an impulse or idea that she is initially following then the encaustic leads her into new territory.  For Sandra the creative process is more important than the final product.  

Soon after meeting Sandra, she was in an art fair and I visited her booth.  Many beautiful encaustics were displayed.  I found one I really liked and as I turned to talk to another friend, someone else came up and bought the piece I had been interested in!  I was a disappointed, but I also believe that piece then wasn’t meant for me. When Sandra created some more encaustics there was one she thought I would like.  When she showed it to me I loved it even better than the one that sold.   

“Tephra” was meant for me. I acquired this piece in a trade for one of my monotypes. I think I got the better end of the deal. This photo really doesn’t do the piece justice; the layers, the depth and the luminosity just draws you in.   

I now live in Colorado and “Tephra” hangs above my desk.   It is a daily reminder of Sandra and to remember that the creative process is sometimes more important than the final product.

Rebecca Dierickx Taylor works in a variety of medium to give form to her memories of growing up in the Midwest and later, of her time in Oklahoma. The big skies and contrast of light and dark created by weather conditions in her environment provide endless inspiration with its beauty and potential for chaos and destruction.