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Artist Statement:
Art has been a main thread
throughout my life. It has
woven through 23 years of
advertising agency and
photojournalism experience and
has resulted in the
development of my personal
dimension of oil painting -
especially in the painting of
incredible undersea
environments and marine life.
This connecting thread of art
has made me very aware of the
color and light in the
undersea world of scuba
diving.
I've been a scuba diver since
1976; an underwater
photographer since 1983; and a
full-time fine arts oil
painter since 1998. In
addition to lots of dive
adventures from Point Lobos to
the Monterey Wharf, I've been
all over the world to pursue
scuba diving adventures -
Papua New Guinea, Palau, the
Great Barrier Reef, Truk
Lagoon, Fiji, Cayman, Turks &
Caicos, Bahamas, Roatan,
Barbados, and more. At each
location the underwater marine
life and scenes were
photgraphed and sketched.
Looking at the resulting
slides with an artist's eye
has always been a
disappointment. Underwater
flash photography can cause
garish shadows in images.
Natural light is too dim to
show any color on the exposed
film besides blue (especially
in these Northern California
waters). The deeper a diver
goes, the more ...
Further Information
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Artist Exhibitions:
Digital Annex, San Francisco,
CA 1/03
Four Artist Show, Cloverdale
Library, Cloverdale, CA 9/02
Solo Show, Cafe Venue, Market
Street, San Francisco, CA 8/02
Scapes of the Land, Sea, Mind,
Sebastopol Center for the
Arts, Sebastopol 11/01
Solo Show, Analy Gallery,
Santa Rosa J.C. 3/...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Plaza Arts, Healdsburg, CA.
Galeria Tesoros, Healdsburg,
CA
Artworks, San Francisco
Kumquat Gallery, San
Francisco...
Further Information
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Artist Reviews:
"Ling Cod" selected for poster
promoting:
Bodega Bay Fisherman's
Festival, April, 2003
California Diving News - Cover
Art
December, 2002 issue...
Further Information
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Donna Schaffer Biography:
| Biographical information for Donna Schaffer can be found below. The artist may choose what information to display. Sometimes the artist chooses not to display personal information to the general public. |
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Age
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0
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| Gender |
Female
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| Status |
Married
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| Children |
1
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| Religion |
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| Education |
Graduate Degree |
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| Hobbies / Interests |
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| Favorite Artistic Medium |
Painting Oil
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| Favorite Arthistory Movement |
Impressionism - (1865 - 1885)
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| Favorite Visual Artist |
frans hals
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| Favorite Work of Art |
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| Biggest Artistic Inspiration |
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| Why Did You Become An Artist |
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| Your Personal Biography |
Donna Schaffer's Artist Biography
Art has been a main thread throughout my life. It wove through 23 years of advertising agency and photojournalism experience and resulted in the development of my personal dimension of oil painting - especially in the painting of incredible environments - the vineyards of Sonoma County; and the undersea world of scuba diving. This connecting thread of art has made me very aware of the color and light in the worlds around me.
Although I've only lived amongst the winecountry vineyards since 1990, I've been a fan of the Healdsburg area since my husband and I moved to Silicon Valley in 1977. How could I not be a painter? This is truly an amazing area with the vineyards, the forests, the lakes and not far from the ocean. Each sunrise and sunset takes your breath away. On horseback I've had the opportunity to discover many, many Sonoma County vistas. Click here and you'll see images of many of my landscapes paintings.
I also enjoy creating portraits capturing the essence of family, friends and commissions. At times my resulting paintings are painterly, at other times I strive for realism. And while I love to do figure drawing and painting with a live model, most people (and all animals) require that I work from photographs. I prefer to work from my own photos because with my digital camera I can snap, snap, snap and have lots of reference images to work from. But on the occassion that I have just a single photo or two to work from, my experience with Photoshop comes in handy. In fact, I'm so enamored with Photoshop that I spend too much time on photo restoration and repair. Bringing those faded, damaged photos and slides back to life, rearranging photos, and enhancing photos is all so satisfying to my composition and design ! Click here to see a few of my photo restorations.
My other hat is scuba diving. I've been a diver since 1976; and started underwater photography in 1983. In addition to lots of diving from Mendocino to the Monterey, I've been all over the Caribbean and South Pacific to pursue scuba diving adventures. Each trip now has its own carousel (or two) of slides of the underwater marine life and scenes. A lifetime of underwater painting reference material!
But underwater photography is particularly tricky. Looking at the resulting slides with an artist's eye has always been a disappointment. Underwater flash photography can cause harsh shadows in images. Natural light is too dim to show much color on the exposed film besides blue (especially in these Northern California waters). The deeper a diver goes, the more the color is lost. The reds and yellows are the first colors lost. My experience is that human eyes are much more sensitive to undersea color nuances than any film.
A few years ago I began the creation of a body of work on my Northern California undersea experience. I am endeavoring to recreate the images, colors, and shadows of the undersea world as I've seen it. However, these paintings are not "copies" of my undersea photographs. I use a painterly approach and make many adjustments and modifications such as the lighting intensity to counteract the effect of strobe lighting, or I remove the artificial light completely and give the painting an underwater feel where shadows are barely evident and contrast is low. And while I don't paint a "photorealism" style, the marine environments I create are based on reality, I won't create a school of "pretty fish" in a species that never schools. I won't mix marine life from various oceans of the world into a setting that wouldn't occur. For non-scuba divers in particular, many of the paintings work well as abstracts too.
The silver thread is that these paintings resonate with people. More paintings are planned for this Northern California series, and with each dive I go on, I have more subjects I wish to paint! Visit the site at www.underwaterpaintings.com.
I spend most of each week plein air and/or studio painting. My work is represented by:
ArtWorks, San Francisco
Galeria Two-O-Six, Healdsburg, California
Upstairs Art Gallery, Healdburg, California
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