More than natural artistic sense, creatives tend to possess a state of open minded curiosity.
2012 . Handcrafted music stand by Marc Banning for my musician nephew Nico.
The key is to explore enthusiastically without judgement. Not to conquer, ( a subject etc) but to understand. To see diverse possibilities evolve and grow.
Imagine if we applied this thoughtful approach with humanity and world issues?
The need to conquer often comes from a place of fear. Fear of the unknown and failure. This prohibits growth, spurring desired finalities with expectations based on previous outcomes.
Specific expectations can blind us to pathways yet explored.
Creative knowledge teaches outcome isn’t singular, but multitude and fluid. We are in a constant state of learning.
Furniture Craftsman Marc
My musician Dad
I may paint the sky daily, because each sky is unique daily, I am a beginner each day. Forever a student.
new sky 8×8 oil on canvas
Templates and formulas can cause stagnation, because we stop discovering.
New flax field 8×10 oil in progress
Original art is unique, one of a kind, like a sunset, person, or snowflake.
This creative journey, timeless and transporting, is happening on the canvas right before you, emotional connection, problem solving, revelation. It’s like we can step into the canvas, be in that moment, a part of living history, whether it’s a painting created yesterday or hundreds of years ago. As if Van Gogh is standing beside us gazing upon vibrant olive gardens. Wow.
When creating, Artists wade uncertainty in a state of relaxed curiosity.
Plein air study
Instead of “what am I going to achieve and make?” The approach is more of a conduit state, “what will I witness, pick up on, sense, feel?”
They will purposefully linger in a state of unknown, witnessing and observing. It’s this suspended time that can be so challenging to many.
It requires patience, a surrendering and confidence.
In order to explore a subject the artist needs to extinguish all previous conceptions of it.
An approach for each other and innovative thinking?
Welcoming a creative state of mind is a joyful and transferable skill. Practice patience, observation, compassion, open mindedness, seeing the world and those around you anew with abundant curiosity.
It’s a bright new world every day. You are interwoven within its beauty and possibility.
Original artwork available ! ~ Please email me to purchase dawn@dawnbanning.com
Its one of the highest compliments for an artist, inspiring relief, gratitude and thrill.
Commissions are one of the most challenging projects artists do. Many full out decline them. As Robert Genn would say, ‘ It may take me 10 years, by then I hope they have forgotten.’
To make the process as smooth as possible on the rare occasion I accept, I first refer clients to my commission terms, posted on my price page.
Communication and trust are key for both parties.
If the project and reference material is suitable, after reviewing at length, we discuss expectations, deliverables, artistic freedom, etc.
Emotion is always my focus, not necessarily site specific content.
It is this lovely family’s collective love of the outdoors, and northern subject matter that really excited me about the project.
They first provided me with a half dozen lovely photos.
I asked for more.
I needed to get a full sense of how they experienced the landscape and participated it in. Even if they thought the photos were’t relevant, I assured them they would be.
client photo
I requested photos of the room where the painting would reside, from all angles, lighting, and the room’s purpose.
Commission will be installed on left wall.
Timing process would affect creative process flow. Approximately start to finish was nearly 2 months to create. Half of this time was ‘creative thinking’ with weeks spent daily on composition, photo referrals, story element, etc . (Special thanks to my friend Julia who was my amazing sounding board thru this.)
When I unveiled the piece last Saturday, I included a narrative and a gift of brushes I used. Photos and narrative ( a few edits) shared with their permission:
“You requested I paint a northern Ontario landscape from your family canoe excursions, include shoreline, trees, sky, a canoe somewhere, Killarney, or French river main subject area.
My ambition was to create how the experience was for you, participating in landscape actively as a family. Sharing happy memories, vivid experience, and the vista beauty.
My intention is about manifesting the feeling of being in that landscape, emotion is the focus. I create this using colour, shape, feature elements combined with soft palettes and strong design.
All elements were considered, how you engaged in the landscape, your collective love of the outdoors and each other. The room where the painting will reside, its purpose, lighting, natural light, elements in the room, wood, stone, etc. Where you will view the painting from, and how that will change as you enter the room. Time of day when you experience the painting most was considered.
Your photos offered a wonderful glimpse how you engaged with each other and the landscape. I have the sense you gathered on the rocky shore together sharing meals, laughter, enjoying the land & water before you.
Overcast skies provided lovely light in your photos. Painting these soft lit palettes allows the vibrant rock colour and shapes to create the drama.
I wanted the painting to feel balanced, pop with colour & variation, like your personalities. You seem to collectively grasp life in abundance, and enjoy those quieter peaceful moments. This is prominent in the photos.
Because this painting will live in a room you sit & gather relax and entertain, surrounded by natural elements, it needed to feel cohesive.The composition is created to flow with your room, entering the room from the left.
You will feel anchored with the body of the composition being heavier on the left, it will actively draw you into the room with the flow of the landscape transitioning to lake on the right.
A higher shoreline in the distance and prominent rocky foreground offers the perspective and feeling of being in the landscape. This works well with the lower ceiling, considering you will be seeing the painting from mostly a seated position. You will feel ‘in’ the painting.
Instead of creating you actively paddling, the canoe is at rest on the rocks, psychologically giving you a feeling of being on a rest stop, camp out or portage when you experience the painting in your dwelling. ( remembering this is a room for relaxation.)
Many of your photos have two canoes, with the four of you, but I decided to depict a single canoe. One canoe, one family, expressing your single tight family unit.
Your lighting will make the lake feel 3D. The under layers of cerulean blue will make it glow like moonlight at night.
Your single source of natural light, the window on the right, will illuminate the painting from right to left, giving it a synchronized feel in your environment, the painting is infused with the natural lighting on the right to enhance this feel of time of day.
I have incorporated colours in the room, and kept it a statement piece all on its own.
Ultimately, it is created for a family, not a room, though all these elements are considered, they are not necessarily to be consciously noticed, its created cohesively to offer that emotional content and showcase the vista.
The main focus is to create a heirloom painting infused with family love engaged in beautiful northern landscape together.”
~
Thanks so much A&C for your trust and enthusiasm! So excited to see the photos of your painting in your beautiful home.
~ For those inquiring about collecting art, several about the new OCEAN, please email to purchase, so excited to hear from you!
Our relationship with art changes the very moment we stop thinking of it as something to fill walls.
Instead, art is a powerful element to fulfill lives.
This sparks an understanding just how much our environment reflects quality of life. It is a direct energy exchange nourishing us like farm to table meals, exercise, laughter, and warm hugs.
Truly remarkable results of exposure to artwork includes random acts of kindness, wounds healing faster, influencing our diets, increase of endurance and problem solving skills.
Nature art offers the most positive health influence. Why? We are hardwired to react positively to nature.
“We also found that given certain key elements in the design of aesthetic encounters, growth in critical and creative thinking accompanied growth in aesthetic thought. In other words, in the process of looking at and talking about art, the viewer is developing skills not ordinarily associated with art. These findings were consistent over a wide range of cultural and socioeconomic contexts.”
Do you buy dishes to fill your cupboards? furniture to fill rooms?
We collect dishes that bring joy, fit hands perfectly, cradle nourishment, in shapes and colours that delight. Furnishings may be trendy, but ultimately, we hope to be held in comfort and in health.
Art is for humanity. The walls don’t care.
This creates a fresh perspective on building and budgeting your collection. What do you choose to engage with?
Think of those who live in, work in, visit your home, office, clinic, lobby? What environment do you create for inspiration, productivity, quality conversation, soothing relaxation?
Investments chosen with awareness become an investment in you, celebrating individuality, joy and intention to enrich your life.
Allow art’s influence to serve you. How will you choose to enrich your life?
~ Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. rachel carson
New OCEAN~ 4ft x 3ft oil $4,345.oo ( price due to increase).
98 % of the time I paint in natural daylight, something our beautiful Canadian winter may lack.
Rather than pine over lost working hours in the short days of winter, I have a little fun with it in the studio.
It’s an exercise I call, Racing the Light.
You can it adapt to other projects, not just creative ones. And.. its versatile in rules.
How like an artist to say that.
Thou it’s great to do often, ( if you’re really keen) I find it most fruitful in the midst of a painting project with an abundance of the 5 P’s.
1. Preparation ( information gathering etc)
2. Planning ( composition, etc)
3. Problem solving
4. Pressure ( self induced or other)
5. Physical labour.
For example, a commission or painting collection due in specific time frame for exhibition. It doesn’t have to be a large canvas, but most times it is.
Race the Light is not pre-planned. To get the most of the exercise it should be completely spontaneous. The thrill and challenge is arriving at appropriate the time of day and deciding to leap in.
Like canoeing into the middle of the lake and deciding to go for a swim without having brought a bathing suit, extra clothes, or a towel.
Either you dive in, or possibly miss a spectacular swim.
Rules are straightforward.
Preferably with 20-30 mins left of daylight , step away from the large project at hand. Turn it to the wall. Note: as you improve, try this exercise in 10 minutes.
Move all possible objects from the floor you may trip over in your artistic flurry.
Now BEGIN:
A new smaller canvas from scratch
Brand new subject matter ( different from large project)
No squeezing out new paint, or breaking out new brushes, or even clean ones _ limited to what is on existing palette and sticky brushes that are in play with the big project.
~( old Masters did this with their palettes. Paint is expensive, Many artists today do an ‘end of paint session’ to use up the paint on their palette, if they aren’t saving it for next day.)
No fixing mistakes, re-working areas, or changing composition once in play.
Finish, or nearly finish the painting before daylight fades.
~( nearly finishing is just as good, as you now have your ‘ leave something undone’ at the end of day. Robert Genn was a fan of this.)
The benefits of Racing the Light are HUGE.
Thou super challenging, it can be playful at the end of a taxing paint day.
It improves instinctive creative skill.
May relieve neck/ shoulder/ leg kinks, by working on a smaller surface area. Because of the complexity of the big project, you may need to loosen up, and you are now doing so because you are working crazy fast to beat the light.
You aren’t just shaking off physical kinks, but psychological/ emotional ones too. Sneaky doubts, critic chatter, rejection letters, social media quicksand that bogs one down.
Practically, you discover unique ways to use a sticky brush you would have otherwise trashed.
It brings a sense of freshness to a palette you may have been working with for days./ weeks/ month.
It brings the present tense into focus, like a zoom lens.
Along with the fading daylight, worries and thoughts fade too, because an exercise like this takes so much focus.
You discover newfound confidence and energy.
In what was supposed to be an exercise .. may…. just may.. .. become magic.
~ Photos above ~ Manitou in Winter~ All Artwork in including new , possibly still in progress “Clouds” 11×24 oil available for purchase.
His studio is devoid of accolades or knick knacks. No awards or pictures adorn the clean white washed walls.
“They can be a source of distraction while creating.” he said.
It isn’t for lack of awards, famed music producer Rick Rubin has won 8 grammies and 2 CMT’s. “Time” has named him one of the most influential people in the WORLD.
He is known for helping artists excel to levels they may have not thought possible. He sees possibilities, combinations, opportunity for artists to stretch their reach, beyond genres or stereotypes.
Who else could convince a country music legend at the end of his career, his voice failing from illness to record a rock song by the young band Nine Inch Nails?
“There were times when his voice sounded broken. He tried to turn that into a positive in the selection of the music.”
The video had songwriter Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails in tears. It has over 17 million views You tube. (link below)
“Dan Charnas, a music journalist’ .. ‘said, “He’s fantastic with sound and arrangements, and he’s tremendous with artists. They love him. He shows them how to make it better, and he gets more honest and exciting performances out of people than anyone.”Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks has praised his production methods, saying, “He has the ability and the patience to let music be discovered, not manufactured. Come to think of it, maybe he is a guru.”
Barefoot, clad in casual shirt and shorts, a long gray beard dominating his features, Rick looks like a yogi master.
He has been practicing TM since he was 14, encouraged by a doctor, saying his neck pain was due to stress and suggested meditation.
To get a sense of his creative process, tune into to Malcolm Gladwell’s wonderful podcast interview. I urge you to listen, his voice cadence exudes sincerity and enthusiasm.
Dramatically, part way thru the interview, Rick and family had to flee his home with just ‘a few t-shirts’ from the raging California wildfires. He has no idea if his home has burned.. yet he seems peacefully focused during the interview. Besides the admirable way he handles sudden life crisis, its a glimpse of how brilliant creatives can be, accepting, fluid with circumstance beyond their control.
A link to the interview here
Gladwell asks him about the possibility of losing everything, and how would that be for him? Rick responds.. perhaps its a good time for the refresh button.
Besides an admirable perspective, Rick’s adaptability, and this seemingly non attachment to that beyond his control, may allow his creative process to flourish.
It’s that genuine love of the work, and an understanding true excellence is discovered in encouragement to reach beyond. Growth requires vulnerability and fearlessness. It requires curiosity. To begin anew, we need to be brave.
Many of you are choosing to hit the refresh button with a New Year upon us. To start anew and purge that what no longer serves you.
Even happy beginnings can be daunting.Writing your first book, staring at the blank page wondering what comes next. Retiring, relocating, leaving relationships or career, learning a new trade or craft. Building a home or an art collection. Starting a fitness regime.
Artists understand scary beginnings. We begin something new every day. We shed what wasn’t working, and explore what might.
Thou starting out can be fearful, following directly after is wonder, possibility, power and newfound confidence.
There is so much strength in movement. In active choice.
Taking the leap, picking up the brush, closing the door. Purge what doesn’t serve you.
Open a new door, hold your face to the warmth of the sun, breathe in the light, sleep well the night, let dreams unfold.
Turn the corner, turn the page. Open the paint box. Squeeze out life’s vibrant colour. Begin.
Begin Begin Begin.
~
All original paintings are available, including NEW “ Moon” 18×24 oil on canvas. Email me to purchase.
I am working on a private 4 foot commission these days ( shown in studio photos). So exciting to be working in paint after weeks of working on the composition. I may not be post while I focus on this piece, but please feel free to email for purchases. As you can see from studio photos, lots of new inventory hoping to find homes. Cheers and Happy New Year friends!
“The Force is not a power you have. It’s not about lifting rocks. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together.That Force does not belong to the Jedi. To say that if the Jedi die, the light dies, is vanity.” Luke Skywalker to Rey~ Star Wars, the Last Jedi.
The energy between all things.
Meditation is a little like this. Attempting to find the space between thoughts, quiet the mind, focus on breathing with life giving energy.
It can be fleeting, that space, that place, and oh so elusive, but when it’s graces you, it’s pure, real and amazing.
Mediation may be one of the easiest and hardest activities to do, because quietening the mind, seeking peace, and surrendering to it, can be challenging. Like learning to swim.
Beginning swimmers learn to float on their backs first. Usually a parent or instructor stands in the water, arms outstretched beneath the beginner, encouraging them to relax, breathe, and trust.
Its another form of surrendering. Because its so powerful and challenging, you likely remember the first time you did this. It feels unnatural and scary. We want control, and yet in fear, we clench up, and .. sink.. or flail about. In trusting, relaxing and surrendering, it can be peaceful and freeing.
with my cousin in the park.
In art, we apply skill, knowledge, problem solving, and observation to create. It is a dance of all of these elements, and at some point, there is a surrendering, recognizing we cannot control every element. We need to trust and seek the energy. That elusive space in-between.
Working in art daily ( amid life chaos & stress), One needs to often refresh creative, mental, physical, and spiritual energy.
A few of my tips to achieve energy balance are:
Nourishment ( wellness, food, exercise, sleep)
Meditation ( and guided heart coherence meditation)
Walking in Nature ( any healthy activity in nature is great, but walking is grounding & can calm heart rate)
Mindfulness
Setting boundaries with commitments
Reading
yoga
and , for an easy renewing energy cleansing routine to start your day, try this short exercise, its one of my fav’s:
He describes the movements and their purpose very well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOIr88AWXWg
… and Friends, May the Force be with You.
~
New Work!
Sunset Pine ~ 18×24 oil on canvas $1,210.oo
Winter Wonderland 9×12 oil on canvas $530.oo
Autumn Woods 18×24 oil on canvas $1,210.oo
Studio will be closed Dec 20-Jan 2. (I will be periodically checking email. ) Price increase in Jan.
..be outdated in a year, or need an upgrade to keep fresh.
They don’t need to be plugged in.
Or require cell service to transmit or be seen.
Without embedded technology, they are a chameleon in the change of light.
They will be shared with many, including future generations.. contributing to the story of your legacy, not to a landfill.
They weren’t made in a factory.
They are created sustainably, ethically, positivity, in a happy healthy work environment.
Minimal materials were used. Cloth, pigment & brush.
The key tools are ancient. Hands, heart & mind.
They will spark conversation, engage you, family, guests, clients, patients, community, and the public in spaces great and small.
They invite you outside, and welcome wilderness in.
They will inspire wonder and possibilities.
Invoke peace, delight, life energy.
Original Art created with love, is a gift of love.
~
It’s always a treat to hear from those of you desiring to give an original gift this time of year, (or treat yourself), and consider the many factors that contribute to your collection. thanks.
~
New work: ( in order of shown)
18×24 oil on canvas~ Autumn Shoreline $1,210.oo( thanks to Steve F. for his beautiful photo)
16×20 oil on canvas~ Field & Forest at Dusk $1,030.oo
6×8 oil on board ~ Maple Seeds $400.oo
6×8 oil on board~ Winter Road $400.oo
~
The studio will be closed Dec 20- 27. Prices increase in January.
‘Cupcake’, ‘Sweetie’, ‘Honey’, were endearing nicknames given my little friends by their family.
My Mom called me “Hurricane”.
Eventually, as a sensitive adolescent, I suggested the destructive meaning of the name was a bit offensive.
“Ok,” she said. “How about Whirlwind?” with a twinkle in her eye. The irony not lost on her, I was under 5 feet tall, less than 100 pounds.
A Force of Nature, she said.
My brother calls me “Taz” for the cartoon character, Tasmanian Devil. “In a really good way.” he adds.
Its this positive force of energy I often channel in the studio. Finding balance between this kinetic enthusiasm and calm deliberation is key.
After all, the turtle wins.. channeling the hare in spurts. Like HIIT.
HIIT training emerged into the fitness world by storm in 2010. The appeal reaches beyond health benefits, attracting those with less time for fitness.
High Intensity Interval Training is applying quick intense bursts of effort alternating with periods of rest, or of lower intensity.
HIIT also great practice for creating art.
Artist demonstration ‘shorts’ ( brief glimpse of process) and artist work-in-progess videos are a popular request. Onlookers want to be entertained. Interactive multi media viewers want to know methods. SEE the action condensed to 10 second video.
Skills long developed may look effortless, giving the impression the art ‘arrived’ to the artist unbidden, unperceived, without intention.
Much of an artists process is problem solving internally. If you can’t see the struggle, like in a running race, it’s hard to convince there is any kind of deliberation.
Prolific doesn’t mean easy. Fast doesn’t necessarily mean “skilled” nor does slow.
One needs to adjust in the moment to what the painting calls for.
Controlled intention with each stroke, and brave exuberant confidence help.
Be the Whirlwind and the Whisperer.
~
New Work!
Evening at the Dock 11×14 oil on canvas ( shown crop and easel)$700.oo
Winter 11×14 oil on canvas ( shown in day & studio light) $700.oo
The large rough burlap sack secured to my wrist by a short piece of twine dragged behind me on the sand.
Grasped in my small fist was a heavy long wooden pole, a nail embedded on the end. It was during the high heat of summer, clad in my cherry pink bathing suit, I scoured the shore barefoot.
Beach go-ers frolicked nearby, the scent of tanning lotion, hamburgers and cigarette smoke clung to the air.
A part of the wilderness and wildlife we lived among, growing up in Provincial Parks we learned firsthand responsibility to each other, and nature. Protect, respect, live cohesively.
It was the mid 70s before littering was an offence and smoking wasn’t cool. During busy seasons, beaches, trails, and campgrounds became visitors personal trash dumping ground.
On this particular summer, park staff were on strike. While the garbage was oblivious to guests, and a statement to strikers, to my parents, it was an atrocity.
My Dad, the Park Supervisor, explained garbage would make the animals, birds, even the fish in our fresh water lake very sick. It would make the land & water sick, and disturb the delicate ecosystem in every way. We needed to act.
For days on end, my 7 year old brother and I used long poles to impale and collect trash to burlap sacks.
One group of adults found my activities novel, shouting derogative comments as I gathered my findings. A piece of trash flew into my vision as I shifted thru pure white sand to retrieve hundreds of cigarette butts.
“Here kid, another one for you. Ha!” They laughed in unison, finding pleasure throwing trash at a 6 year old tied to a burlap sack.
I remember them well, lounging on their blankets, oiled bodies glistening in the warm summer sun, discarded sunflower seeds scattered among them.
I ignored them as trash continued to fly toward me, but not before my icy stare caught the instigator in a short stand off. My brother scampered over to lead me to another part of the boreal forested beach, where we worked alongside.
These days, my parents wisdom still rings clear “We live here, and life privilege comes with responsibility.”
It’s easy to sit by and point obvious blame to those who disregard the state of our delicate earth, our home.
But human nature is a funny thing, even the word fight when used for positive change, can elicit defensiveness. Threats and visions of disasters can cause debilitating fear, producing a cowering urge to hide, deny, look away from scary images.
Our biological makeup requires resistance and run from threat.
The very language we use can create more friction when it’s a time for unity and problem solving of a situation to immediate and obvious to ignore. The circling term ‘earth in jeopardy for future generations’ stalls proactive action, because it gives the illusion of ‘time’. It won’t happen to me, it will happen to someone else.. down the road.
Having an intimate relationship with nature as a youngster meant by the time our family moved to town, our connection to wilderness ran deep and secure.
During my work presentations, exhibitions and expeditions, I meet people who have no understanding or experience in nature. People sadly deprived of parks, gardens, and others who believe nature is a holiday.
We live 90% of our lives indoors. How do we convince people to protect what they have absolutely no ( recognized) relationship with?
A friend working with species at risk said “we made a mistake using the polar bear as an icon. Most people will never see one, or come into contact with the arctic environment. It doesn’t seem real to them. ” We spoke about using the family pet cat instead. Imagine the heading “Betty, the orange tabby’s life is in jeopardy because of global warming.”
I understand enough to know my own ignorance, only to know at time when we need unity and solutions, I see division, fingers of blame, and hear warring words.
Positive language and action of protecting our universal home may spark innovation, problem solving at its best. Initiatives, growth, invention, gather, invite, commune, collaborate. We are humanity after all, we have cured diseases and taught ourselves to fly. We can do this.
“There you have it folks, that’s a wrap.” said the newscaster after delivering the latest devastating climate science, leaving viewers terrified in their seats. That isn’t a wrap, I thought.
Humans are motivated by hope.
Where are the directives individually and collectively to create positive change? Where are the amazing images of incredible eco- friendly biodegradable products already developed? Where is that story? and why isn’t it going viral? What clean sustainable companies do we support, and list of products we refuse to collect? Where are the stories of bringing a strong nature element back into society?
Building a positive engaging relationship with nature creates an emotional connection. Thou it may be naive, I believe its a critical necessary step toward a deeper understanding of what nature provides and what’s at risk.
A strong relationship with nature is an investment we all reap the rewards from, our individual health, and our global health.
As a child on the beach that day, I watched holiday & weekenders depart for their camps and cars at dusk. Gulls flocked overhead searching for discarded French fries.
As the cigarette smoke cleared, quiet enveloped me and sunset shimmered over the lake.
I remember feeling sad for them. Off to their busy noisy cities, they missed the best stuff.
An understanding that nature isn’t temporary at all.
Wilderness is the source of all life. Seen and unseen. The very reason they had cities, camps, cars, clothes and french fries lay beneath and around them. Forest, land, water, animals & plants.
The brilliant path of colour washed over me. I wished they could feel its vibrant energy and peace, offerings of nourishment, body and soul.
And wishing they too, could now breathe the fresh air.
~
Accepted to the Artists for Conservation in 2009, was a privilege, knowing artists are selected on the highest credentials of quality of work. An industry pro suggested I focus on animal art, like the majority of its members. “Its the one genre you can win awards in, and where the money is. People want to see elephants, deer and birds. Landscape artists are outdated.”
What could be more dated and current as habitat? Without habitat there is no wildlife, there is no life.
I contribute funds to World conservancy, and hope to remind people in my work in a powerfully emotional way, of our universal connection to nature. Fall in love with nature, renew a sense of belonging in the outdoors and we naturally become invested in protecting it.
“Keep close to nature’s heart.. and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” John Muir.
~
All artwork above is available for purchase, email me dawn@dawnbanning.com
Biophilia ( nature inspired) and the Behr 2020 paint colour “Back to Nature”are current interior design trends.
New ” Grove” 18×24 original oil $1,210.oo
Experts say quality ’craftsmanship’, sustainable, repurposed materials, textiles, natural stone, warm woods, ivory palettes, millwork, handmade quality furniture and lighting is the new wave of design. Recent elements include canvas inspired wallpaper created specifically to host ‘ beautiful works of art ’ featuring ‘nature’. ’ Dark cabinets, patterned tile, ‘overdone brass’ and metallics are out. Whitewash and subtle monotone textures are in.
Photo courtesy of Gray Development Group, Windsor. Gray Development Group design & construction. see link here and below.Photo courtesy of Gray Development Group. Gray Development Group construction & design.see link below.Photo courtesy of Gray Development Group. Gray Development Group construction and design. see link below.
They are trends reminiscent of historic traditions and a Yukon home I visited 3 decades ago traveling with a colleague from the arctic circle. Helen wished to visit her retired friends en route to Dawson City. Winding our way thru a wooded dirt road to the remote log cabin, I wondered about the people who made their home here, hundreds of miles from civilization.
Emerging into a small clearing, a beautiful little timber home sat on forested shores with expansive views of a private lake.
A massive cast iron stove with fire ablaze greeted us upon entering, surrounded by cozy handcrafted furnishings covered in well loved quilts. The multi purpose kitchen off the living area featured a makeshift shower, four cabinets and a doll size sink resurrected from a trailer. The kitchen window needed to be small enough a bear head not to fit thru. It took three attempts to find the right size. “Grizzlies” the homeowner said, in conversation over washing teacups, “are determined.”
We enjoyed homemade bread slathered with berry jam, drinking in the home’s warmth. I was amazed at their ingenuity creating this beautiful home, making nearly everything in it. Functional items were works of art. Consciously chosen artifacts fed home and spirit, including a stunning original landscape painting. Longing to retire among nature, a quiet life away from noise and crowds, this place spoke to them. “I can fish off my front deck.” He said.
Photo courtesy of Gray Development Group, design & construction by Gray Development Group
These days, like with Helen’s northern friends, creative storage and functional multi purpose space is forefront of new design, with home office, fitness/ health areas gaining popularity. ( See my post on Wellness Architecture here. and below) Outdoor living spaces, views of nature inside and out are much desired.
Commercially, corporates are recognizing the productive benefits of healthy, pleasing aesthetic work spaces, including fine art, nature elements, comfortable furnishings in their budgets and plans.
2020 design continues toward soft palettes of ivory brick, and stone coloured floors. Wood of a lighter hue is a major feature, like honey pine floors, countertops, grey timber beams, accents, and furniture. Reclaimed wood is a statement in design, beauty and sustainability, repurposing historical planks.
Original reclaimed wood art piece “Moss Gradient” by Craig Forget. Photo courtesy of Craig Forget, see link below and here.“Woodland” 60×24 by Craig Forget www.craigforget.com
Nature is the focus in art, also themed thru fabrics, lighting and floor rugs. Out with geometrics, in with botanicals, one article said.
‘Gallery’ walls with a selection of several small art pieces are out, instead, walls with large feature paintings are in.
“Clouds” 4ftx3ft original oil $4,345.oo by Dawn. Handcrafted original desk and Boggs inspired chair by Marc Banning.
Current clean less busy/ornate designs, emulating warmth of natural materials could be a response of often over scheduled, electronic consumed lives.
People are craving uncluttered restful spaces and connection to wilderness.
“Kenosee” 14×18 original oil $910.oo
It’s a yearning for nature infusion, unique comfort and tactile pleasure of handcrafted furnishing, dinnerware & textiles.
Original handcrafted dinnerware by Dayna www.potterycupboard.ca
Masterfully crafted pieces are a wonderful tangible reminder of self sufficiency and creative human spirit.
Marc Banning oiling his handcrafted walnut dining chair.
Emerging trends focus on human and planet health, rejecting mass produced disposable items, instead cherishing original pieces.
Its a wonderful resurgence of reviving our roots, reaching beyond aesthetic decor.
Mountains original oil 4ftx3ft $4,345.oo
We feel good in spaces reflecting nature because it’s an integral part of our biological makeup. They feed our space and soul.
Fresh restful palettes, organic materials and nature focus invite mind, body, and spirit opportunity to rest. To dwell in possibility.
Literally.
~ “The purpose of art is not a rarified, intellectual distillate- it is life, intensified, brilliant life.” Alain Arias-Mission.
~”Design is everything” William Merritt Chase
Interior photos, construction & design by Gray Development Group, Photos courtesy of GDG. Windsor Ontario. www.graydevelopmentgroup.com
Craig Forget Reclaimed Wood original art www.craigforget.com photos courtesy of Craig Forget.
Handcrafted Dinnerware by Dayna at the Pottery Cupboard. www.potterycupboard.ca
New Artwork shown above~ all art is available for purchase.
