Deona's paintings open a doorway into a nostalgic world where whim and simplicity guide you into feelings and memories still lingering from your childhood. Her characters are expressions of the innocence inherent in all beings and the common thread we share with all life. Deona's source of inspiration (the preschool and kindergarten children she taught, along with her one year old son) is wonderfully obvious. Her paintings embody their innate sense of creativity, but with a calm tone and muted color cultivated by her time with nature and in her little cabin on the side of a hill in Leicester, North Carolina. Over the past two years, Deona has been traveling the southeast attending art and folk art festivals. The exposure to other amazing artists and kind people has spurred a growth in her work. She is currently displaying her work at Atelier 24 Lexington and Woolworth Walk in Asheville, NC, the Winder Binder Gallery of Folk Art in Chattanooga,Tn and the Blue Magnolia in Augusta, Ga.
Deona shares that all of her life, she has kept a shoe box of paints, scrap wood, canvas and a sketchbook nearby. Trying to be resourceful, she collects used canvases and old frames from rummage sales. She jokes that she often "hit up old barn wood piles and find objects walking down the street". Along with acrylics, she sometimes uses wood putty and wax, all together to become her medium to create art.Creating art gives Deona both peace of mind and a great release, through "the sensation of the way a line curves just right or how two colors compliment each other". Inspired by nature, the countryside and a child-like spirit her work has a simple and whimsical feel.
As an owner of her artwork, I can tell you that it brings a smile to my face
everytime I look at it. It brightens my day and invites me into a world of wonder.
you can view Deona's work at the galleries mentioned or on etsy.com
you can also keep up with her latest happenings on facebook and myspace
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